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FOUNDING OF A NEW WORLD 




ST. SOPHIA. 



The Founding of a New 
World 



GEORGE H. DRYER, D. D. 



CINCINNATI: CURTS & JENNINGS 
NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS 









THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 


Two Copies 


Received 


MAY 20 


1903 


Copyright 


Entry 


& o / 


o3 


COPY 


a. 



COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY 
CURTS & JENNINGS 



J 



PREFACE. 



Twenty years ago the author became convinced 
that an urgent need of English-speaking Protestant- 
ism was a popular history of the Christian Church. 
Each year since has deepened his conviction of its 
necessity for the American Churches and the Ameri- 
can people. No Church and no people can afford to 
be ignorant of its past. The society and civilization 
into which we are born is our heritage. These are 
mainly determined by the history of our country and 
of the Christian religion. The distinguishing feature 
of our civilization is that it is Christian. The Man of 
Galilee uttered words and lived a life by which public 
opinion judges men and nations. Our developing 
civilization feels the influence of the centuries of 
Christian history. Every intelligent man should 
know, at least in outline, the history of his own land 
and of the Christian Church. The forces molding 
the life of our times are the forces active in the one 
as in the other. Every Christian must rejoice in the 
knowledge of the providential guidance of the Church 
of God, and the development and conquests of the 
Christian religion. Our own life finds help in it, as 
did that of the psalmist and prophets of the Old, and 
the apostles of the New Covenant, in the history of 
Israel. Our hearts can not fail to glow as we see 

i 



2 Preface. 

Christian history lengthening out the muster-roll of 
the heroes of the faith found in the eleventh chapter 
of the Epistle to the* Hebrews. 

The gravity of the situation can hardly be over- 
stated. Our schools teach everywhere the unity of 
nature, the unity of human history. Our Roman 
Catholic friends have their theory of the unity of 
Church history, which, however deficient in proof, 
does not fail in completeness. How, then, do we 
teach human history — the history of the Christian re- 
ligion? Our American youth can study in our schools 
and colleges the history of Greece, of Rome, of 
Egypt, and of the Oriental nations of antiquity ; they 
can learn the course of the history of the Middle 
Ages, and the rise of the modern nations ; they can, 
in modern history, find instruction in the history of 
the United States, England, France, Germany, and 
other European and Asiatic nations; they can find 
guidance in universal history, in the history of civili- 
zation, the history of literature, of philosophy, of 
economics, of the special sciences; but where, outside 
of the theological seminaries, can they study the his- 
tory of the Christian Church ? What Christian col- 
lege has such a professorship? What Church in- 
structs its own adherents? What reading-course 
supplies this lack? Can we afford to ignore Christian 
history? Are the divisions of Protestantism so fun- 
damental that Protestants can not teach it? Have 
not even the errors and failures of Church history 
lessons we should heed? 

It is believed there is room for a popular history 
of the Christian Church, which shall be accurate and 
impartial in its presentation of the facts ; which shall 



Preface. 3 

give the life and movement of the times ; which shall 
show the development and effect of the controlling 
forces of the Christian life and factors of Christian 
history ; and which shall give its readers some ac- 
quaintance with the greatest names in the recorded 
life of the Church, such as they have with Washing- 
ton or Cromwell, with Napoleon or Bismarck. Such 
a history should be upon the shelves of the Church 
and Sunday-school libraries, welcomed by Young 
People's Societies and Reading Courses, and read 
and enjoyed in the family circle. 

This book has been written for popular use. It is 
hoped it will have interest for those who only hear it 
read aloud. Yet care has been taken and accuracy 
sought that its arrangement and presentation of facts 
may afford material for careful study and independ- 
ent judgment. While the author's opinions have not 
been concealed, he has endeavored to distinguish 
them from the statement of facts. It is believed it 
will not fail in inspiration and suggestion. 

These considerations have determined the method 
employed in its composition. The aim has been to 
place the reader in the midst of the Christian life of 
the time. For this purpose the life of the state and 
the conditions of society have been presented in de- 
tail. These were as real to the Christians of those 
times as are to us our politics, economic and social 
conditions; indeed, they were much more directly 
affected by them. The history of the Church is more 
than the record of doctrines and usages which it 
rejected or retained ; it is the record of life ; and the 
Church which conquered the Roman Empire and its 
Teutonic invaders was very much alive. Because of 



4 Preface. 

the differences of opinion as to the teaching and 
tendencies of the early Church, these have been 
presented largely in the language of the writers of 
the time. Those who read this history are entitled 
to the testimony of the best authorities. It would 
have been a pleasure to give foot-notes and ref- 
erences; but for its purpose, the arrangement of 
the literature at the head of the chapters has been 
thought more serviceable. On controverted questions 
space forbids the statement of different views ; the 
materials for judgment, so far as possible, have been 
given, and the conclusion in the words of men emi- 
nent for their ability, learning, and impartiality. 
Such are Bishop I^ightfoot, on the Christian Ministry ; 
Canon Gore, on the Papal Supremacy; Professor 
Ramsay, on Apostolic Succession; and Dr. C. W. 
Bennett, on Baptism. In one passage, Mr. Lecky's 
summary of Eusebius, and in another Mr. Hodgson's 
of Procopius, have been given because a study of the 
original authors made clear that it would be difficult 
to improve them in faithfulness and effectiveness. 
An attempt has been made to show the relation of 
this history to forms of Church-life with which we 
are familiar, and for this purpose sometimes the 
bounds of the period have not been strictly observed. 
I wish to acknowledge the courtesy and kindness re- 
ceived for six years from the librarian and assistant 
of the Rochester Theological Seminary, and aid given 
by the Royal Library of Berlin. In addition to the 
reading of the works of Professor Harnack, I am 
glad to acknowledge the increased obligation from 
hearing two courses of his lectures on this period. I 
am most indebted to him in the treatment of Gnos- 



Preface, 5 

ticism, Manichaeism, the Christological Controversies, 
and Augustine. 

The preparation of this volume has been the de- 
light, as well as the toil of years. The inspiration of 
such noble company and triumphant faith has blessed 
my life. I owe the deepest personal obligation for 
help ministered to practical Christian living by men 
as far removed from each other, and as little attract- 
ive to my choice, as John Calvin and St. Anthony. 
Every genuine Christian life has help in it. It is 
hoped that this work may aid in making evident the 
unity of all Christians in the personal abiding of the 
risen L,ord and the ministration of the Holy Ghost — 
a unity which compasses all divisions and generations 
of the race, and unites the Church in earth and 
heaven. 

May this presentation of the unity of Christian 
history, and the power and supremacy of the spirit- 
ual and moral forces of the Christian religion, aid in 
the advancement of the kingdom of God among men, 
and reveal the glory of the reigning Christ on whom 
the ages wait ! 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



J&arf Jtrgf. 
THE CONQUEST. 
I. 
The Empire of Rome. 
The Lands of Rome — The Rule of Rome and Great Britain — 
The Rulers of this Empire — The Military Emperors— The 
Magistrates — The Municipalities — The City Magistracy — 
The Decurionate — Augustales — The Provincial Adminis- 
tration — Roman Taxation — Collection of Taxes — Roman 
Society — Economic Condition of the Empire — Com- 
merce — Manufactures — Agriculture — Causes of Decline — 
Religion, 27 

II. 
The Christian Church. 
Its Origin — The Doctrines — God, Forgiveness, Love, Immor- 
tality — The Society— Birth and Growth of the Church — 
The Apostolic Church — Paul — Peter — James — John — The 
Jews — The Greeks — Syria — In the West, 49 

III. 
The Persecutions. 
Progress of the Conflict — Martyrs of Lyons — Tertullian's 
Witness — Martyrs at Carthage — The Apologists — Perse- 
cution of Diocletian — Summary — Motives of Christian 
Martyrdom — Christian and Other Martyrs — Our Debt to 
the Martyrs — Issue of the Conflict — Magnitude of the 
Conquest, 64 

IV. 

The Christian Empire of Rome. 
West and East — Effect of Taxation — The Roman Empire in 
the East — Effect of Barbarian Invasions — Two Control- 
ling Powers surviving the Downfall of Rome — The Em- 

7 



8 Table of Contents. 

pire — Influence of the Greek Church — Eastern Emperors — 
Justinian — The Ruin of the Old World — Saxon Invaders — 
Fate of Italy — Downfall of Rome, 78 

V. 
The Barbarians. 
The Goths — Vandals — Lombards— Conversion of the Barba- 
rians — Clovis — Influence of the Church on the Barba- 
rians — Work of Christian Missions among the Barbarians — 
Work of Captives— St. Patrick — Work of Hermits— St. 
Severinus— Work of Monks— St. Martin of Tours — St. 
Columba — Iona — Work of Bishops — Remigius and Clovis — 
Augustine of Canterbury — Contrasts of these Ages — The 
Element of Continuity — Failure of Materialistic Civiliza- 
tion — Divine Order Evident — Lessons of the Conquest, . 90 

Parf j&enmb. 
THE TRUTHS THAT WON. 
I. 
Teaching of the Eari^y Church— Apostles' Creed. 
Religion and Theology — Mission of Preaching in the Apos- 
tolic Age — Turning-point — Common Faith of the Early 
Christians — The Apostolic Fathers — Ebionites — Gnosti- 
cism — Gnostic Doctrines — Manichseism — Defense of the 
Faith — New Testament Canon — The Episcopate, . . 109 

II. 
Founding of Christian Theology — Origen. 
Montanism — Irenseus — Hippolytus — Tertullian — Clement of 
Alexandria — Origen — Concerning God — The Interces- 
sion of Angels — The Future State — Resurrection-germ 
Theory — Our Relation to the Scheme of Things — Defects 
of Origen — Biblical Scholar — Theologian— Character, . 124 

III. 
Doctrine of the Trinity— Creed of Nioea. 
Monarchianism — Dynamistic Monarchianism — Modalistic 
Monarchianism — Subordinationism — Arius and his Doc- 



Table of Contents. g 

trine — Athanasius — His Teaching — His Life — His Charac- 
ter — Oecumenical Councils — Nicaea — Its Creed — The Three 
Cappadocians — Creed of Constantinople, 142 

IV. 

Doctrine of the Person of Christ— Creed of Chai,- 

cedon. 

The Men of the Period — Nestorius — Cyril of Alexandria — 

Eutyches — Council of Chalcedon — Creed of Chalcedon — 

Results of the Council, , 157 

V. 
Pelagian Controversy— Doctrine of Human Sin and 
Redemption. 
St. Augustine — The Pelagian Controversy — Semi-Pelagian- 
ism — Course of the Controversy — Augustine's Teaching — 
The Fall— Original Sin— The Mass of the Non-elect— 
Election and Preservation — Peculiar Doctrines — Charac- 
ter of his Thinking, (1) The Church, (2) Predestination, 
(3) The Evangelical Faith — Augustine's Meditations, . 166 

THE NEW RULERS OF THE NEW WORLD. 
I. 
The Organization of the Eari/v Church. 
The Apostolic Church — Apostles — Prophets — Teachers — 
Church Officers — Deacons — Presbyters — Bishops — Apos- 
tolic Succession, - 181 

II. 
The Development of the Episcopate. 
Bishops and Presbyters — Defense against Heresy and the 
Apostolic Succession — Cyprian — Cyprian on the Episco- 
pate — Influence of Augustine — Ambrose — Bishops in 
Gaul in the Teutonic Conquest, 190 

III. 

Provincial Synods— Metropolitans and Patriarchs. 

Synods and Metropolitans — Their Election — Patriarchs, . 201 



io Table pF Contents. 

IV. 
The Primacy of Rome:. 
Source of the Importance of the See of Rome — First Center 
of the Church at Jerusalem — Rome takes the Place of 
Jerusalem — Effect of the Controversies with Heretics on 
the Position of Rome — Effect of the Organization of 
Synods — Rome the Only Apostolic Seat in the West — The 
Removal of the Capital from Rome to Constantinople — 
Effect of the Barbarian Conquest — Influence of Theolog- 
ical Controversies — Effect of the Metropolitan Constitu- 
tion — Early Bishops of Rome — Innocent I — Leo I — State- 
ment of Leo's Claims — Leo's Practice — Leo and the 
Council of Chalcedon — Character of Leo — From Leo to 
Gregory I — Gregory the First — Work of Gregory, (a) 
Choice of Bishops, (b) His Administration in Reference 
to the Bishops, (c) The Clergy, (d) Monks, (e) Care of the 
Patrimony, (/) Charities — Last Days of Gregory — Greg- 
ory's Appearance — The Pallium — Conquests of the Sara- 
cens — Forged Decretals — Causes of the Development of 
the Papacy, 205 

V. 
The CivERGY. 
Growth of the Sacerdotal Ideal — Church Organization and 
Discipline — Celibacy of the Clergy — Exclusion from Ordi- 
nation — Minor Orders — Effect of the Union of Church 
and State — Exemptions — Ideal of the Christian Ministry, 

226 

$art Inurllj. 
WORSHIP AND DISCIPLINE. 
I. 
Worship of the Eari^y Church. 
Influence of Worship in the Development of the Church- 
Worship of the Jewish Christians in the Apostolic Age — 
Worship of the Gentile Christians — The Love-feast — The 
Lord's Supper — Worship of the Post-apostolic Age — 
Letter of Pliny — Testimony of "The Teaching of the 
Twelve "— Justin Martyr — Order of Worship, 239 



Table of Contents. ii 

ii. 

Worship of the Old Cathouc Church. 

Two Principles of Worship — Testimony of Tertullian — Cyp- 
rian — Fasting — Order of Worship, 253 

III. 

Greek Cathouc Worship. 

Description of Cyril of Jerusalem — The Greek Catholic Con- 
ception of Worship — Description of the Worship — Order 
of the Greek Liturgy, 259 

IV. 

Roman Cathouc Worship. 

The Roman Catholic Conception of Worship — Comparison of 
the Greek and Roman Catholic Service — The Great Lit- 
urgies — The Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper — Time and Method of Celebration — Baptism — 
Preaching — The Church-year — The Week — Hours of 
Prayer, -.- 266 



The Discipline of the Church. 

Discipline in the Early Church — The Effect of Montanism — 
Penitence after 250 A. D. — Tertullian on Penitence — Cyp- 
rian — The Penitential System; (a) The Mourners, (6) The 
Hearers, (c) The Kneelers, (d) The Bystanders — Effect of 
the Discipline of Penitence— Corrruptions of these Ages- 
Effect of Elaborate Ritual — Worship of Martyrs— Wor- 
ship of Saints — Worship of the Virgin Mary — Heathen 
Elements in Christian Worship — Chrysostom — His Work 
at Antioch — At Constantinople — The Council of the Oak— 
His Banishment and Death — His Character — Personal Ap- 
pearance — Source of his Power as a Preacher, .... 279 



12 Table of Contents. 

Part JifHi. 

THE NEW SOCIETY. 
I. 
The Ou) Social Order in Rome. 
Distinctive Difference between a Heathen and a Christian 
Civilization — Society in Heathen Rome — The Court — 
Messalina — Agrippina — Nero — Women — Divorce — Disso- 
luteness — Causes — Arria — Children — Progressive Corrup- 
tion — Slaves — Sources of Supply — Classes of Slaves — Num- 
ber of Slaves — Slave without Rights — Causes of Amelior- 
ation — Literature — Influence of Poetry on Education 
and Life — Philosophy — Ionic School — Pythagoras — Eleatic 
School — Socrates — Socratic Schools — Plato — His Doc- 
trines—God—The World— Man — Ethics —Aristotle— His 
Doctrines — God — Man — Results of Greek Thinking — 
Stoicism — Ethics — Epicureanism — Skepticism — Roman 
Philosophy — Seneca — Epictetus — Philosophy in Educa- 
tion — Neo-Platonism — Religion — Idolatry and the Course 
of Human Life— The Goddess of Women— The Child 
and the Divinities who protect it — The After Life and its 
Divinities — The Amusements — The Theater — The Cir- 
cus — Games of the Amphitheater — Combats of Gladia- 
tors — Sources of Supply and Training of the Gladiators — 
Battles in the Amphitheater — Naval Battles — Combats 
with Wild Beasts — Extent of the Prevalence of Gladiato- 
rial Games — Time given to the Games in Rome — The Ex- 
pense of the Games — The Coliseum — The Games in the 
Coliseum — The Abolition of these Games — Extent and 
Influence of these Games — Corruption of Roman Soci- 
ety — The Witness of Pompeii, 301 

II. 
Christian Life and Society. 
The Effect of Christianity upon the Individual — The Influ- 
ence of Old Associations — Social Reform — The Christian 
Home — Marriage — Children — Religious Life in the 
Home — Slaves — Christian and Heathen Society — Trades 
and Professions — Public Life — Christian Fellowship — 



Table of Contents. 13 

Communion with God — Instruction — Worship — Disci- 
pline — Christianity in Business Relations — Tenants — Re- 
sistance to the Oppression of the Powerful — Christian 
Charity — The Necessity and Dignity of Labor — The Serv- 
ice of Wealth — Hospitality — Care of the Poor and Dis- 
tressed — The Congregational Charity becomes that of the 
Bishop for the Community — The Care of the Poor by the 
Church becomes Institutional — The Motive for bestowing 
Alms — Charitable Institutions — Hospitals — Caring for the 
Dead — The Release of Captives — The Catacombs, . . 339 

III. 
The Monastic Life. 
The Monastic Life not found in the New Testament — The 
Monastic Ideal — The Reverse Side of the Monastic Life — 
No Monasticism in the Early Church — Causes of the 
Origin and Spread of Monasticism — Two Chief Causes — 
The Secularization of the Church — Physical and Social 
Condition of Egypt — Hermits and Anchorites — St. An- 
thony — Life of Anthony — His Temptations — Retirement 
and Counsel — His Visits to Alexandria — Wisdom of An- 
thony — His Serenity — The Founder of Monasticism — 
Rule of Basil — Santa Laura — Western Monasticism — St. 
Jerome — Marcella — Melania — Melania the Younger — 
Furia — Fabiola — Paula — Eustochium — Toxatius — Paula 
the Younger — Paulinus of Nola — Benedict of Nursia — 
Rule of Benedict — The Value of the Monasteries — The 
Curse of the Monastic Life, 360 

IV. 
Turning-points and Results. 
Reign of Constantine — Eusebius of Caesarea — Christian Art — 
Frescoes — Mosaics — Sculptures — Architecture — Basil- 
icas — Circular Churches — Santa Sophia — Interior of a 
Basilica — The Fall of Rome — Loss to the Churches 
through Barbarism — Gain to Civilization through the 
Church — The Noble Company of Men and Women who 
founded the New World — Darker Shades — Conclusion — 
Finis, , , , > 388 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



OPPOSITE PAGE 

St. Sophia, Frontispiece. 

Map of the Roman Empire, 26 

St. Pauv • . 56 

Christian Martyrs, 76 

Tempi,e of Jupiter, 102 

Roman Forum, . . . . . 208 

Temple of Juno, 326 

14 



LITERATURE. 



Many books are, doubtless, omitted which might Well 
have had a place here. The list is sufficiently complete, 
however, for the use of the average student. 

On the Whole Period. 

For the writings of the fathers in the original tongues, 
" Migne's Cursus Patrologiae," found in all the larger libra- 
ries, is full and complete. It has been used 
for this volume except for the apostolic fa- 
thers, where Harnack and Gebhardt and Zahn's " Patrum 
Apostolicorum Opera," and Bishop Lightfoot's "Apostolic 
Fathers," 4 vols., have been preferred; Vallarsi's edition 
of' 'Jerome" has been used; the " Monumenta Germa- 
nise" of Pertz and his successors have been consulted; 
also, Bouquet's " Recueil des Historiens des Gaules," and 
the "Acta Sanctorum " of the Bollandists. The source for 
the English reader is the " Ante-Nicene Library of the Fa- 
thers." I would gladly have conformed my quotations to 
this text, but for the fact that my own copy was beyond 
the sea. The volume containing the works of Eusebius, 
ably and helpfully edited by Dr. McGiffert, is sold by 
itself. 

Neander and Gieseler are unsurpassed in their use of 
the sources, but their style and plan commends them only 
to the serious student. The text-books of Histories of 
Hase and Kurtz are well known and valuable, the Church. 
Moeller's is the last and best of the works of German 
scholars translated into English. The work of Karl 
Miiller is concise and much more readable, but is not 
yet translated. The reader should be warned against 

15 



1 6 Literature, 

wasting his time upon translations of Mosheim's history. 
Milman's " History of Christianity " is well written, and 
should be read with Gibbon. Milman's " History of Latin 
Christianity " is a much better work; Vol. I treats of this 
period. Schaff's " Church History" is good, the work of 
a scholar, but diffuse. Professor Sheldon's " Church His- 
tory" is equally scholarly, but more concise. It is an 
able, but not a specially popular book ; the history of doc- 
trines is treated in a separate work. There are no better 
Church histories written in one volume than those of 
Dr. George P. Fisher and Bishop J. F. Hurst. The former 
excels in his treatment of the theological development, 
while the latter is particularly valuable on the modern 
history of the Church. The limitations imposed upon an 
author who writes a history of the Church in one volume, 
is shown in the fact that the history of the first six cen- 
turies covers, in Dr. Fisher's work, 146, and 100 pages in 
that of Bishop Hurst. The Church histories of Alzog and 
Hergenrother present the Roman Catholic view. The 
former is translated, and is the more impartial on this 
period. Neander, or SchafF, with Gibbon and Milman, will 
give a good view of the course of events in Church and 
State. De Pressense's series of volumes on this time is 
readable and interesting. Of great value are special arti- 
cles in Herzog s " Real Encyclopaedia," McClintock and 
Strong's " Encyclopaedia," Smith and Wace's " Dictionary 
of Christian Biography," and Smith and Cheetham's " Dic- 
tionary of Christian Antiquities." 

Part I. — Chapter I. — The Empire of Rome. 

Authorities. 

The best work on this period in English is Meri- 
vale's " Empire under the Romans," 7 vols. Valuable 
are Gibbon's " Decline and Fall," Vols. I and II, and 
Mommsen's " History of Rome," Vol. V. Smaller 
works are Merivale's or Pelham's " History of Rome," 



Literature. 17 

in one volume. Fisher's " Beginnings of Christian- 
ity," and Inge's " Society in Rome Under the Caesars, ' 
are interesting and helpful. 

German authorities are: Mommsen and Mar- 
quardt's " Romische Alterthiimer," 6 vols.; Schiller- 
Voigt's " Romische Alterthiimer. Hermann Schiller's 
" Romische Kaiserzeit," 3 vols., is an excellent work. 

Chapter II. — The Christian Church. 

Authorities. 

Schurer's u History of the Jews in the Time of 
Christ " is the best single work. Stapfer's " Pales- 
tine in the Time of Christ " is interesting and in one 
volume. Weiss's is the best "Life of Christ;" Cony- 
beare and Howson not surpassed on u St. Paul." 
Westcott's •■ Introduction to the Study of the Gos- 
pels" and "History of the Canon of the New Testa- 
ment " are excellent. Reuss's " History of the Canon 
of the Holy Scriptures " shows the growth of the 
Canon. " The Introduction to the New Testament," 
of Dr. Bernhard Weiss, and Dr. Sanday's Bampton 
Lecture on " Inspiration," are the best helps accessible 
to the English student. Bishop Lightfoot's " Essays 
on Supernatural Religion " are invaluable as discus- 
sions of the value of the evidence on which a judgment 
must be based. Neander's u Planting and Training 
of the Christian Church" is well worth reading, but 
the later authorities should be read first. The sec- 
tions on the beginnings of Christianity in the Church 
Histories and Histories of Doctrines should be con- 
sulted. 

Part I. — Chapter III. — The Persecutions. 

Sources. 

The Apologies of Justin Martyr, Tertulllan, Origen, 
and Lactantius, — nothing can take the place of these. 
They are found with il The Martyrs of Lyons,' 1 and 



1 8 Literature. 

the " Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas, ,, in the 
" Ante-Nicene Library of the Fathers." With them 
should be read the " Ecclesiastical History" of Euse- 
bius. 

Special Works. 

Schultze's " Untergang des Griechischen und Romi- 
schen Heidenthums," 2 vols., is the best work on the 
subject. Excellent and interesting is Ulhorn's " Con- 
flict of Christianity with Heathenism." The treat- 
ment of the subject in L,ecky's " History of European 
Morals" deserves attention. See also Donaldson's 
article, " Celsus," in the Ency. Brit. There is no better 
work in one volume than Ramsay's " Church and Ro- 
man Empire." 

Part I — Chapter IV. — The Christian Empire of Rome. 

Sources. 

Gregory of Tours " Historia Francorum ;" Salvian's 
"De Gubernatione Dei;" Sulpicius Severus's ''Chron- 
ica;" Apollinaris Sidonius's " Epistolse ;" Procopius's 
" De Bello Gothico." 

The best authorities are : Gibbon's " Decline and 
Fall of the Roman Empire," Findlay's "History of 
Greece," Vol. I, Hodgkin's " Italy and Her Invaders," 
6 vols. In German, the section in Hauck's " Kirchen- 
geschichte in Deutschland " is excellent. Specially 
commended are Oznam's " Byzantine Empire," in the 
" Story of the Nations" series, and Bryce's article, 
"Justinian," in Ency. Brit. 

Part I. — Chapter V. — The Barbarians. 

Authorities. 

Gregory of Tours, Procopius, as in the last chapter ; 
Tacitus's " Germania," with the references in Caesar's 
"De Bello Gallico;" Gregory I's "Epistolae;" the lives 
of Saints Patrick, Columba, Severinus, and Colum- 



Literature. 19 

ban (compare Gibbon and Hodgkin) ; Guizot's 
"History of Civilization." Dahn's Weitersheim's 
" Volkerwanderung " is a German authority. Brad- 
ley's " History of the Goths," in the " Story of the 
Nations " series, is an admirable treatment of the sub- 
ject. Maclear's " Apostles of Mediaeval Europe," and 
Smith's " Mediaeval Missions," are good books. 

Part II. — Chapter I.— Teaching of the Early 
Church. 

Authorities. 

Hagenbach's, Shedd's, Sheldon's, and Harnack's 
"History of Doctrines." Shedd is written in good 
style and strongly Calvinistic; Sheldon is accurate 
and excellent ; Harnack's is the latest and best of the 
German works; the German edition is used here. 
The sources are the New Testament and the " Apos- 
tolic Fathers;" the latter are found in the "Ante- 
Nicene Library." 
Special Works. 

Weiss's "Biblical Theology of the New Testament;" 
Wendt's "Teaching of Jesus." Schmidt's "Biblical 
Theology of the New Testament," is old but still use- 
ful. Bishop Lightfoot's excursus in his Commentary 
on the Galatians, and published separately in his 
" Dissertations " on " St. Paul and the Three," will 
always be worthy of thoughtful attention. 

Part II. — Chapter II. — The Founding of Christian 
Theology. — Origen. 

Sources. 

Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Clement, and Origen 
in the "Ante-Nicene Library." The source for the Life 
of Origen is Eusebius's " Ecclesiastical History." 

Special Works. 

Bigg's " Christian Platonists of Alexandria;" Hatch's 
"The Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages upon the 



20 Literature. 

Christian Church;" Farrar's " History of Interpreta- 
tion." Westcott's " Origen," in his " Christian 
Thought in the West," is an admirable study. Pat- 
rick's " Apology of Origen against Celsus" is an ex- 
cellent edition for the English reader. 

Part II. — Chapter HI. — Doctrine of the Trinity. — 

Creed of Nioea. 

Sources. 

Works of Athanasius, " Ante-Nicene Library;" works 
of Gregory of Nyssa, " Post-Nicene Library.,' 

Special Works. 

Dorner's "Doctrine of the Person of Christ;" Gwat- 
kin's "Studies in Arianism;" Bright's " Introductions " 
to his editions of " Athanasius." 

Hefele's " History of the Councils " is learned and 
fair; the first two volumes, covering this period, are 
translated into English. SchafF's "Creeds of Chris- 
tendom " gives the creeds in the original and transla- 
tion. The 21st chapter of Bishop Hurst's "Church 
History" gives an admirable summary. Liddon's 
"The Divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ " 
is strongly commended. 

Part II. — Chapter IV. — The Doctrine of the Person 
of Christ. 

Authorities. 

Dorner and Hefele, as in the preceding chapter. 
Harnack's treatment of this period, in his " History of 
Doctrines," is very full and suggestive. Gore's "Life 
of Leo the Great." 

Part II. — Chapter V. -Pelagian Controversy. 

Sources. 

Works of Augustine in " The Post-Nicene Library." 
See all the Histories of Doctrine. 



Literature. 21 

Special Works. 

Reuter's " Augustinische Studien; ,, Allen's "Conti- 
nuity of Christian Thought," strongly commended ; 
Dorner's article, " Augustinus," in Herzog's Real Ency. 

Part III.— The New Risers of the New World. 

Sources. 

Works of Cyprian in " Ante-Nicene Library;" Augus- 
tine in " Post-Nicene Library;" Ambrose, Leo, Greg- 
ory, in Migne " Patrologia;" Bright's " Sermons of 
Leo I." 

Special Works. 

Hatch's " Organization of the Early Christian 
Churches." Hatch's "Origin of Church Institutions" 
treats of a later period but is very valuable. Hatch's 
article, " Priest," in the " Dictionary of Christian An- 
tiquities." Articles in the " Expositor," 1887, give 
the different views of the origin of episcopacy. 
Ramsay's "The Church and the Roman Empire." 
Greenwood's "Cathedra Petri" is full and accurate, 
the first two volumes are on this period. Geffken's 
"Church and State," 2 volumes. Article "Popedom" 
in Ency. Brit. H. C. Lea's "History of Sacerdotal 
Celibacy " is a most impartial and important work, 
and should be read by every student. See also lives 
of Ambrose ; Augustine ; Leo I, by Canon Gore ; 
Gregory I, by Bramley. 

Part IV. — Worship and Discipline. 

Sources. 

"Letters of Pliny," "Teaching of the Twelve," "Jus- 
tin Martyr," "Apostolic Constitutions," and "Ancient 
Liturgies," in the Ante-Nicene Library. Swainson's 
"Early Greek Liturgies," and Daniel's "Thesaurus 
Liturgicus," are authorities. The guide for this sec- 
tion has been Kostlin's -"Geschichte des Gottes- 



22 Literature. 

dienst." Dr. Bennett's ''Christian Archaeology " is 
scholarly and valuable. Swainson's article, " Liturgy " 
in the " Dictionary of Christian Antiquities." 

DISCIPLINE. 
Sources. 

See Cyprian, Tertullian, "Apostolic Constitutions;" 

"Apostolic Canons," in " Ante-Nicene Library ;" 

Hefele as above on the Canons of the Councils ; 

Bright's " Canons of the First Four General Councils ;" 

Mead's article, "Penitence," in the "Dictionary of 

Christian Antiquities." Of the several lives of 

" Chrysostom," Stephens's is the best. 

Part V. — Chapter I. — The Old Social Order in Rome. 

Authorities. 

Friedlander's "Darstellung aus der Sittengeschichte 
Roms" is learned, interesting, and graphic in its 
portrayal. Dollinger's " Heidenthum und Judenthum,' , 
English translation, " Jew and Gentile in the Court of 
the Temple of Christ," is the work of an able scholar, 
and with all corrections of later writers an invaluable 
aid to the student. Of great help are Mommsen-Mar- 
quardt's, and Schiller- Voigt's "Romische Alterthiimer." 
Teuffel's "Geschichte Romische Eiteratur." Zeller's 
"History of Ancient Philosophy" is the fullest and 
best. Erdmann and Uberweg on Ancient Philosophy 
in their Histories of Philosophy are good, Erdmann to 
be preferred. It is also treated in Schwegler's "His- 
tory of Philosophy," in one volume. 

There are good English translations of Plato and 
Aristotle. Jowett's Plato and Grant's Aristotle are 
the best; found also in Bohn's library. Lecky's 
" History of European Morals " has an appreciative 
sketch of Stoicism. The subject is treated in all the 
Church histories. 



Literature. 23 

Part V. — Chapter II. — Christian Life and Society. 

Sources. 

The New Testament, The Apostolic Fathers, The 
Apologists, Clement, Tertullian, Cyprian, and Origen, 
in the"Ante-Nicene Library;" Brace's " Gesta Christi ;" 
Storrs's " Historic Evidences of Christianity;" Ulhorn's 
" Charity in the Christian Church;" Withrow's " Cat- 
acombs." Bishop Hurst's Chapter 26 in his " Church 
History," on the " Church in the Catacombs," is con- 
cise, accurate, and instructive. 

Part V. — Chapter III. — The Monastic Life. 

Sources. 

Athanasius's "Life of Antony," Jerome's "Letters," 
Letters of Chrysostom and Augustine, all in the 
" Post-Nicene Fathers;" Harnack's " Pseudo-Clemen- 
tinische Brief;" Harnack's "Das Monchthum;" Mon- 
talembert's " Monks of the West;" Littledale's article, 
"Monachism," in Ency. Brit.; Weingarten's article, 
"Monchthum," in Herzog's Real Ency.; Venable's 
article, "Monastery," in " Dictionary of Christian An- 
tiquities." 

Part V. — Chapter IV. 

Sources. 

Eusebius's "Ecclesiastical History," Sozomen's "Ec- 
clesiastical History," in the "Post-Nicene Library;" 
Bishop Lightfoot's article, " Eusebius," in the " Dic- 
tionary of Christian Biography;" Fergusson's " His- 
tory of Architecture," 2 vols. Camicci "Storia della 
arte Christiana nei primi olto secoli della Chiesa e 
Correda ta della Collegione di tutti i Monumenti di 
Pittura e Scultura," 1872-1880, 6 vols.; from this 
work, more than from any other source, I have de- 
rived my impressions concerning the catacombs. 
Hiibsch "Architecture Chretienne" from Constantine 



24 Literature. 

to Charlemagne, one volume, great folio ; Texier and 
Pullan on Byzantine architecture, one volume, great 
folio; Dehio and Bezold's "Die Kirchliche Baukunst 
des Abendlandes," 3 vols., folio, plates, have been the 
authorities used on architecture. Bennett's " Chris- 
tian Archaeology " is valuable, as is also Nesbitt's 
article, " Church," in the Dictionary of Christian An- 
tiquities. 



fnxt First 



THE CONQUEST. 

25 



Chapter I. 

THE EMPIRE OF ROME. 

In the last four hundred years the wealth and 
power of the race and the seats of civilization have 
passed from the shores of the Mediterranean to the 
banks of the Thames and the Spree, the Neva and 
the Seine. The transfer across the Atlantic would 
not be more momentous than this change of the cen- 
ter of all lands from the southern to the northern 
side of the Alps. The transition is from the leader- 
ship and dominion of Europe to that of the globe ; 
from following in the wake of a mighty past to the 
new era, in which the conquests of the Christian faith 
and civilization are bound by no lands and shut in by 
no seas, but constitute the true dominion of the 
world. 

This shifting of the center of civilization and au- 
thority renders the restoration of the Papal dominion, 
whether temporal in Italy or spiritual in Christen- 
dom, as vain as the restoration of the Roman Empire. 
Rome can never again rule the world. The land- 
locked Mediterranean can never again be the great 
highway of commerce and seat of government. The 
navies of the world and the argosies of its commerce 
must ride on deeper waters and connect more widely- 
sundered lands. For the first time in two thousand 
years, Rome no longer holds the leadership of the 
world. 

27 



28 The Conquest. 

If now we live in a Rome-less world, we need to 
know, at least in outline, the world in which Rome 
bore rule ; what Rome was ; the work she wrought ; 
the presence and influence which filled and pervaded 
the ages. This is essential to any true understanding 
of the early Christian centuries. Freeman did not 
exaggerate when he said : " That Christianity should 
become the religion of the Roman Empire, is the 
miracle of history ; but that it did so become, is the 
leading fact of all history, from that day onwards." 

To bring a dead world and society to life again, is 
no easy task ; but it is the only way to make history 
of value ; and when the art of the historian accom- 
plishes this, there is a delight such as no creations of 
the novelist can give, since there is an equal exercise 
of the imagination, while the great men and events of 
the past become our teachers, and we trace the action 
of forces which underlie all history, and therefore the 
times in which we live. 

To understand the Empire of Rome, we shall need 
a comprehensive view of the lands in which she ruled; 
a clear conception of her power and government 
through a comparison with the Empire of Britain ; to 
trace, in a few strokes, the character and career of her 
rulers ; to see the forms of her Government, the 
structure of her society, and glance at those economic 
conditions of trade, manufactures, and agriculture 
which determine the national well-being of a people. 
While making Roman society and rule live again, we 
are to remember that Rome was the mightiest antag- 
onist and most relentless persecutor the Christian 
faith ever had. The sternest conflict was waged for 
centuries, and the victory decided for all time the fate 



The Empire of Rome, 29 

of the contest between Christianity and every form of 
heathenism. The time will not be lost in which we 
seek to live in that Roman world in which our L,ord 
was born, the apostles labored, and the Christian 
Church was founded and came to victory. 

No fairer lands were ever united under a single 
rule than those of Rome. They descend toward and 
surround the Mediterranean Sea. This sea The Lands 
lies for two thousand miles between Africa of R° me - 
and Europe. The distance from Gibraltar to Syria is 
as great as from New York to Denver. It is ten 
times the size of all the great lakes which The Medi- 
flow into the St. Lawrence. It was the terranean. 
maritime highway of the Roman world. Grouped 
upon its shores arose the seats of ancient civilization 
and modern power. Around its eastern end lay 
Egypt, the land of the earliest historic civilization; 
Phoenicia, through whose hands Assyrian and Baby- 
lonian culture reached the West, and from whose cit- 
ies of Sidon and Tyre sprang the letters and com- 
merce of the ancient world ; Greece, the mistress of 
literature and art; and Palestine, from whose tribes 
came forth the religion which has ruled all the ages 
since. On the southern shore stood Carthage, daugh- 
ter of Tyre and rival of Rome. The peninsula of 
Spain shuts in its western end. On its soil arose the 
power which freed the land from the Moslem, con- 
quered and possessed for three hundred years the 
Western Continent, and during the sixteenth century 
ruled as the mightiest power in Europe. France, 
once a powerful monarchy, and now a great republic, 
forms part of its northern coast. Genoa, Pisa, Flor- 
ence, and above all Venice, controlled its commerce 



30 The Conquest. 

and grew opulent through its trade. At the eastern 
end is the great Balkan peninsula. From its metrop- 
olis, Constantinople, the Moslem power ruled for four 
hundred years the nations east of the Adriatic. The 
power which commanded the Mediterranean ruled 
the Western world and Western civilization, and de- 
termined the destiny of those European races which, 
through conquest and dominion, were to people and 
possess other continents. 

Italy is the central and fairest of the three north- 
ern peninsulas ; it extends for seven hundred miles 
into the great Mediterranean — twice the length of 
the peninsula of Florida. Half-way down on its 
western side the yellow Tiber finds its way to the 
sea. Fourteen miles from its mouth, on seven small 
hills which clustered about its banks, was founded 
the city of Rome. Her situation, as well as the mar- 
tial virtues of her citizens, made her the center of 
trade and source of authority in all the lands from 
the Alps to the Atlas, and from the Straits of Gib- 
raltar to the River Euphrates. Although the arms 
of her legions carried the rule of Rome to the shores 
of the Atlantic and German Oceans, the Black, Cas- 
pian, and Red Seas, to the banks of the Rhine and 
Danube, yet Rome was essentially, in all ages, a Med- 
iterranean power. The mighty power which filled 
and ruled this scene finds its most instructive par- 

The Rule of a ^ e * * n ^ e ru ^ e °f m °dern Britain. As 
Rome com- the island of Great Britain is but the base 
thatlt Great °^ °P era tions and home of the great cap- 
Britain, tains of her civilization, of the governors 
oi provinces which are empires, the commanders of 
the trade and commerce of the world, so Italy was 



The Empire of Rome. 31 

but the base of the Roman power and the home of 
the governing race. Britain, like Rome, is the great- 
est colonizing and civilizing power of the world. 
Her commerce and her colonies are followed by her 
conquests and dominion. Britain is as eager as Rome 
for commercial and naval supremacy. A glance at 
the map will show how she commands the strategic 
points of maritime intercourse. The control of the 
ocean routes by Bermuda, Jamaica, St. Helena, Cape 
Town, Aden, Bombay, Ceylon, Singapore, and Hong 
Kong make this evident. So, in the Mediterranean, 
she holds Gibraltar, Cyprus, and Egypt. Whatever 
powers rule its shores, upon its waters Britain reigns 
supreme. Rome was seven hundred years in accom- 
plishing this result ; but so thoroughly was the work 
of conquest done, that she wielded the scepter of its 
sway for five hundred years from the Tiber, and for 
more than a thousand years from Constantinople. 
As the drum-beat of Britain is heard around the 
world, so the supremacy of Rome rested on the valor 
of her legions. Britain enlists and drills natives of 
all lands — Sepoys, Sikhs, Goorkas, and Arabs — in 
her armies of conquest and possession. So Rome 
recruited and re-enforced her proudest legions from 
the allies and mercenaries of Gaul and Britain, from 
the Germans and Goths. 

As wealth and trade, government and civilization, 
in the British Empire, center on the banks of the 
Thames, so far more intensely did that of the great 
Empire of Rome center in its capital by the Tiber. 
As the British Parliament is the supreme source of 
authority and court of appeal from America, Africa, 
and Australia, and to subject princes and nations in 



32 The Conquest. 

India, so were the Roman Senate and the Roman 
emperors to the subject-lands of Rome. The power 
which conquers plains and oceans allows, and neces- 
sarily reserves, a greater freedom of government and 
administration than was ever known to the provinces 
of Rome. Widely different from any pagan culture and 
rule is the rule of the British Empire through the ac- 
ceptance, as corner-stones of its dominion, of the Chris- 
tian religion, constitutional government, and personal 
liberty, civil and religious. Still, some startling re- 
semblances confront us. In colonies, conquests, and 
government, Rome was easily chief in the ancient, as 
Britain is in the modern world. Her rule brought or- 
der, prosperity, and the arts and achievements of civ- 
ilization. Law, equitable administration, improved 
social usages, and the best roads in the world fol- 
lowed in the train of the armies of Rome, as they do 
to-day the conquests of Britain. Into the sphere of 
this dominion came the religion of Christ. 

Our Lord was born in the age of Augustus — the 
great age of Roman rule. The first Roman emperor 
The Rulers of had reigned twenty-seven years "when 
this Empire j esus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in 
the days of Herod the king." Thus the beginning 
of the Roman Empire and the Christian religion were 
in the same generation. 

If Julius laid the foundation for the fortune and 
throne of the Caesars, Augustus consolidated their 
power and established the empire. His 
successors in the direct line ended with the 
brutal and cruel Nero. Tiberius had been a worn- 
out debauchee and misanthrope ; Caligula a mad- 
man ; Claudius little better than an imbecile ; while 



The Empire of Rome. 33 

the last of the Julian house was the murderer of 
his brother, Britannicus, and his mother, Agrippina. 

After the short revolutionary reigns Revoiu- 
of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, Vespasian Emperors, 
founded the Flavian line of emperors. 

The Flavian house, with the exception of the 
crafty and bloodthirsty Domitian, formed a succession 
of the best rulers among the emperors of F | avIan 
Rome. Vespasian, Titus, and Trajan were Emperors. 
generals worthy of Rome's noblest time. 6 * ml92 
Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius were 
cultivated men and enlightened rulers. They secured 
the best results possible from imperial despotism; 
they postponed the fall, but could not maintain the 
prosperity of the Roman State. Gibbon placed in 
their reign the greatest average happiness of man- 
kind. Strange that he should think the largest hap- 
piness of the race to be joined to a decaying nation 
and a declining state ! 

Commodus, the last of the Flavian emperors, was 
succeeded for nearly half a century by the house of 
Septimus Severus (193-235), and a series TheMiIitary 
of military chieftains, all of whom reigned Emperors 
by the choice or consent of the legions. "9 2 - 28 4. 
Of the twenty-six emperors who came to the throne 
in this period, twenty-two were put to death by their 
soldiers or by victorious rivals. Of the four others, 
Decius died in battle, Valerian in captivity, Claudius 
by pestilence ; and only Septimus Severus was ex- 
cepted from an evil fate. 

Diocletian, in order to end this era of military des- 
potism and anarchy, divided the imperial rule among 
four leading generals, and crowned his system by his 

3 



34 The Conquest. 

own abdication. Though other claimants disputed 
the imperial authority with Constantine, and though 
the apostate Julian reigned for two years as the last 
of the house of the first Christian emperor, yet, in 
any real sense, Diocletian, one of the greatest, was 
also the last pagan emperor of Rome. 

To trace the reign and fortunes of these emperors 
in detail may seem more interesting than to cause to 
live about us the society and institutions in which 
they moved. The latter may require a stronger ef- 
fort of the imagination and a larger fund of informa- 
tion. Yet the reward is greater; we then have the 
background and setting for the lives and deeds of 
those men who made glorious the page of Christian 
history, and can measure, to some extent, the influ- 
ence of those uncounted thousands who founded and 
gave victory to the Christian Church. The life of 
the greatest man has a narrow limit; institutions sum 
up and crystallize the most serviceable endeavors- of 
the ablest men, and of society, and transmit them 
from generation to generation. Some knowledge of 
Roman institutions will not only give form and shape 
to the life and society of the time, but will help us 
to understand the Christian institutions as well. 

ROMAN GOVERNMENT. 

The Roman Republic and Empire was, first of all, 
a city state Rome, the city, ruled until the extent 
of her conquests made impossible the exercise of 

The imperial power through a city magistracy 
Magistrates c h sen by a portion of her inhabitants. 
Even then the old forms of a city government sur- 
vived in the State under the empire, while Roman 



The Empire of Rome. 35 

society and civilization found its centers in the city 
communities of the provinces, which were formed and 
administered after the model of the capital. 

The Government of Rome for five hundred years 
combined rotation in office with skill, experience, and 
stability never equaled. The officers were, as a rule, 
annually elected ; but the governing body was an offi- 
cial aristocracy, holding offices for life, yet annually 
recruited from the body of the citizens. 

We may have a better understanding of this or- 
ganization if we suppose its principles applied to the 
government of an American State. Then, if its offi- 
cers were annually elected, and not eligible to suc- 
cessive re-election, the governor and lieutenant-gov- 
ernor would represent the consuls ; the judges of the 
State, the praetors; the Board of Public Works, the 
aediles ; the comptroller and treasurer, the quaestors ; 
the State assessors, if chosen once in five years, the 
censors; the attorney-general, chosen to defend the 
rights of the people, the tribunes. To its College of 
Pontiffs, with pontifex maximus at its head, caring 
for the interests of religion and holding offices for 
life, we, of course, have no official representatives. 
If, then, these officials had to begin their course with 
the office considered lowest in the list — that of treas- 
urer — and advance, though by popular election, yet 
in graded succession, and after serving their term of 
office, they became the life-members of the State 
Legislature, the only law-making and governing 
body ; if they should choose, by their own election, 
the members of their body who should keep their 
number up to the legal limit of 300, and later 600 
members; and if the property qualification of the 



36 The Conquest. 

members was $1,600, and later $40,000, we would 
have a fair picture of the magistracy and Senate of 
Rome. If the President of the United States should 
become an absolute ruler, and himself appoint those 
officers whom he chose to remain, assuming to him- 
self the tribunate, the censorships, and the office of 
pontifex maximus, and then should fill all the vacan- 
cies in the number of the senators, generally with 
their consent, but sometimes without, we would have 
the image of that administration under the imperial 
rule. 

Under the empire, the Senate formed an aristo- 
cratic body of men chosen for life, whose duty was 
rather to consult with the emperor than to legislate, 
like the Senate of the Napoleonic regime in France. 
It exercised authority in conjunction with the emperor 
for the first two centuries of our era, was oppressed 
by the military emperors of the third century, and be- 
came merely the Municipal Council of Constantinople 
under Constantine. 

Of much greater import than the waning influence 
of the Senate and Roman magistracy, which more 
and more merged into the imperial authority, were 
the cities and municipalities of the empire, which 
were formed and ruled by the spirit and power of the 
earlier time. Rome was a city state ; its civilization 
was a civilization begun, developed, ruled, and almost 
confined to cities. When, at the founding of the em- 
pire, the rule of Rome ceased to be the rule of one 
The Munici- city, it became the rule of the cities and 
panties, municipalities of her provinces. What- 
ever of talent or genius for government remained in 
the empire, came from these communities to the cap- 



The Empire of Rome. 37 

ital and to the chief offices of the State; for in these 
municipalities, in their administration and govern- 
ment, was preserved all of liberty, of in- Their Gov- 
dependent civil and political life, left in eminent. 
this great despotism. In Italy they were formed as 
the conquests of the Republic advanced. In France 
and Spain, they were established at all the centers of 
trade, government, and population. So, in the con- 
quered lands to the north and east of Italy, and in 
Britain, they formed the centers and support of Ro- 
man power, society, and civilization. In the East, in 
a land of cities, Rome sometimes entered into an al- 
liance with them, whereby they preserved the free- 
dom of their administration by the payment of the 
taxes in a stated sum; sometimes they obtained or 
accepted the privileges accorded by their conquerors 
to the civic communities of the West. In any event, 
their government conformed more and more, though 
with the retention of the old names for their officers, 
to the city organizations of the West. 

The administration of a Roman provincial city 
was committed to two men chosen annually by, and 
from among, those of the population who The city 
had the right of citizenship, for the exer- Magistracy, 
cise of the judicial and religious authority of the city. 
They were called Duumviri jure dicundo ; that is, two 
men who give the law. With these were chosen two 
men who had charge of the police, the public build- 
ings, streets, roads, and city property ; they were called 
-£jdiles. These officials are assisted by two treasurers 
or quaestors. The Duumviri represented the consuls, 
praetors, and pontifex maximus of Rome, discharging 
duties like theirs. They appointed censors, who were 



38 The Conquest. 

a part of the city magistracy, held their office for five 
years, and who drew up the list of all the assessable 
property in the city and its territory upon which was 
based the imperial taxation, for administrative and 
judicial districts were grouped around the cities. 
The city officers passed in succession through the 
grades of its magistracy, and possessed a considerable 
property qualification. When they had served their 
term of office, they became life-members of the Sen- 
ate of the city — more often called Decurionate, and 
The its members decurions. This City Council 
Decurionate. k a( j j n ^-j ie municipality, in domestic mat- 
ters, all the authority of the Roman Senate. Its 
number was fixed by the act of the Senate at Rome, 
which was the charter of the city ; but it could not 
exceed one hundred. It was composed of the city 
officers who had served their terms, and ot certain 
prominent men, enough to make up the legal num- 
ber, who were chosen by the Council on account of 
especial merit or worth. For the first century of our 
era, these city offices, which led to lifelong Decurionate 
and its honors, were eagerly sought by rich men, who, 
upon their entry into a city magistracy, gave expen- 
sive games or erected some public building to signal- 
ize their term of office. As this Council of Decurions 
were responsible personally for all the taxes of the 
city and its allotted surrounding territory, so that, if 
they failed to collect the amount from the property of 
the inhabitants, they had to pay it out of their own 
pockets, the office, in the increasing expense of the 
Imperial Government and poverty of the population, 
came to be a burden instead of a privilege. After 
200, the Council of Decurions was only a corpora- 



The Empire of Rome. 39 

tion for the collection of taxes. The emperor had 
the right to confirm the city magistrates. If suitable 
(wealthy) ones did not present themselves, he could 
nominate through the senior Duumviri, which was an 
election not to be declined. So he could, and by his 
officers did, fill up the number of vacant places in the 
decurionate. Thus no wealthy man escaped the ob- 
ligations of making good the taxes. Hence the city 
aristocracy was one of wealth ; for the wealthy classes 
controlled all official positions. 

This tendency was increased by the institution of 
the Augustales. These were six men, partly free and 
partly rich freedmen, chosen to have charge 

r 1 1 • r -1 ArAi Augustales. 

of the worship of the emperors. They 
were elected by the decurions on account of their 
wealth. On their election, they gave great games 
and paid a large sum into the city treasury as quali- 
fication for office. With the worship of living em- 
perors in many ways was connected the existing rites 
or worship of Mercury, Hercules, Castor and Pollux. 
The native and local worships were almost unlimited. 
The Duumviri of each city chose the pontifices and 
augurs. Religion was bound up with every official 
action of the community. Its prosperity was insep- 
arably connected with the strict observance of relig- 
ious rites. 

The emperor exercised his rule through the gov- 
ernors of provinces. They were called proconsuls, 
propraetors, or procurators, and had the rank and 
dignity and governed as imperial viceroys. Their 
importance depended upon the wealth and resources 
of the province they ruled. Paul appeared before 
them at Cyprus, at Corinth, and at Caesarea. They 



40 The Conquest. 

presided often at the persecutions and martyrdom of 
Christians. They secured the public peace, the ad- 
The Provin- ministration of the law, and the collection 
ciai Admin- of the revenue. They made real the rule 
istration. of Rome Under them were the officials, 
civil and military, necessary to carry on the Imperial 
Government as now in India. In fact, the British gov- 
ernors of India and her provinces afford the nearest 
parallel. Praefects were officers sent out annually as 
representatives of the Roman praetor, to administer 
justice in the colonies and municipalities. Sent by 
the emperor, they represented the Imperial Govern- 
ment and its administration. The name and no small 
part of the functions of the office survive in the 
French prefect. 

Thus we have passed in review the governmental 
institutions of the Roman State and of her cities. 
With these the early Christians had daily to do ; they 
formed the framework and substance sometimes, as 
with Paul, of their defense, and sometimes, as in his 
case, of their condemnation and martyrdom; for in 
this survey we must not forget the position and per- 
son of the emperor, who ruled with absolute sover- 
eignty over a larger population than any European 
sovereign since, unless we except Queen Victoria since 
the English crown undertook the government of In- 
dia in 1857. f ° a ru ^ e always liable to the caprices 
of despotism, and sometimes base and horrible beyond 
description, was added the most prevalent of all re- 
ligious and official rites — the worship of the living 
emperors of Rome. However dry these matters of 
administration and government are to us, to the early 
Christians they were of the most intense interest, 



The Empire of Rome. 41 

because upon the disposition of the Roman governor, 
or the magistrates of a Roman city, might depend 
the life or death of the Christian missionary, or of 
those converted through his preaching. 

If persecution and martyrdom depended upon the 
disposition of Roman governors and magistrates, 
there was no intermission of the pressure of Roman 
taxation. The slave portion of the Christian popula- 
tion alone escaped it, and its effects were felt long 
after the empire ceased to be pagan. Therefore, a 
glance at it will help us to understand the life of that 
time. Upon conquest — and all the lands of Rome 
were conquered territory — the real estate Roman 
of a province became the property of the Taxation. 
Roman people, or of the State. The inhabitants 
were left in possession upon the payment of a 
tributum, or annual tax, which was the rent. This 
was usually one-tenth of the produce of the land; 
often one-fifth; seldom as little as one-twentieth. 
The cities had to care for the assessment — the raising 
and payment of the taxes. They were bound to- 
gether into provinces, or dioceses, in which the gov- 
ernor held a Provincial Assembly each year, composed 
of the deputies of these cities, and communes. This 
Provincial Union was bound together by the worship 
of the emperors. The high priest was a very emi- 
nent man ; he had charge of the financial administra- 
tion of the Union, presided at the Provincial Assem- 
bly, and at the public games. These Assemblies 
cared for the financial administration ; the erection of 
commemorative monuments; they chose the high 
priest, and made complaints against the governor, and 
sent them, through their ambassador, to the emperor 



42 The Conquest. 

or the Senate. We easily see how the Roman Admin- 
istration and State represented to the Christians that 
idolatry which they loathed, and which brought them 
to prison and to death. 

While the Roman system of taxes in their assess- 
ment had commendable features of definiteness for a 
fixed period, and local adjustment, yet their collection 
was as merciless, impolitic, and destructive as can 
well be conceived. In the first place, all the direct 
taxes — that is, all but the fixed tribute — were sold to 
the highest bidder. The collection of these was un- 
dertaken by great stock companies of publicani, 
hence publicans, who had to deposit a large sum as 
Collection of security with the State. They must collect 
the Taxes, foe taxes or be financially ruined. Their 
profit was the sum raised in excess of the wants of 
the State, and they had every motive to oppress and 
drain dry the tax-payer. Not less certain of economic 
ruin was the system of collection of the direct taxes. 
The collective property of the wealthy citizens who 
formed the Decurionate, or City Council, was the 
guarantee for the annual taxes of the city and adja- 
cent districts. In this way the State was sure of a 
fixed revenue at the beginning of the financial year. 
But the results were disastrous. If through bad har- 
vests, epidemics, or tempests, or from slower and more 
certain causes, the city or district decreased in popula- 
tion or wealth, we may be certain that the strongest 
members of the community — its wealthy aristocracy — 
would use every means to collect the taxes before im- 
poverishing themselves. The laws were harsh and 
severe. The freeman who could not pay the poll or 
property tax was sold into slavery, and his family 



The Empire of Rome. 43 

also, if necessary to make up the required amount. 
Thus, if a city or district began to decline, its ruin 
was progressively accelerated. The possessor of lit- 
tle property either left for more favored regions, or 
sunk into helpless slavery. The land went out of 
cultivation, so that slaves became a burden rather 
than a source of profit. This rigid and inhuman sys- 
tem of taxation was one great cause of the increasing 
poverty and economic ruin of the Roman Empire. 
Financial administration and taxation, in all ages and 
in all communities, have a most intimate relation to 
the welfare of the State. 

The early Christians saw before their eyes the 
power and splendor of the Roman Empire — the great 
kingdom of "this world" — and felt the pressure of 
its taxation ; but they had to do directly with its so- 
ciety, of which they formed first a hated, and then an 
antagonistic part. If their life and work is to have 
meaning for us, we must know something of its 
structure. In all Roman communities, as in the cap- 
ital, the Senate, or city official aristocracy, stood at 
the head. From the Senate, even in imperial times, 
were chosen the great officers of the court and of the 
State, the governors of provinces, the commanders of 
legions, and the higher administrative posts. Below 
them, at Rome, ranked the knights, a Roman 
moneyed aristocracy whose ruinous com- Society. 
petition and usurious gains impoverished the prov- 
inces. Below them were the freedmen — men born in 
slavery, who became the trusted confidants of their 
masters, or of great native capacity, who, procuring 
their freedom, often amassed immense fortunes, and 
came to the highest posts of influence with the aris- 



44 The Conquest. 

tocracy and in the court, but could never wipe off the 
stain of their servile origin. In the capital, the mid- 
dle class died out, and there remained only the citi- 
zens who were fed by the State, and the slaves. In 
the provincial cities, next to the aristocracy of the 
decurions were the Augustales. Then came the body 
of the citizens, never large in number in proportion 
to the inhabitants who could vote for the officers of 
the municipality. They were artists, handworkers of 
all kinds, small traders, teachers, and lower govern- 
ment officials, often living from hand to mouth ; then 
the non-voting citizens, mostly foreigners and their 
descendants, who followed small handicrafts and 
trades, like the Jews in the Greek cities under Roman 
rule of St. Paul's time, and to whom he first preached. 
These became a constantly-diminishing class in the 
West, as business came more and more into the hands 
of freedmen. The middle class ceased to exist, and 
slavery, like a bottomless abyss, swallowed up all be- 
low the wealthier classes. In the first century, it is 
estimated there were more slaves than freemen in the 
empire. Though recruited no longer to the same 
extent by war, its ranks were continually replenished 
by the poverty which made impossible the payment 
of debts and taxes. 

The imperial times saw the most flourishing trade, 
commerce, industry, manufactures, and agriculture 
Economic known to ancient peoples or a pagan rule. 
conditions of They also saw their decline. A view of 
the Empire. the material conditions of their life can not 
fail to make us better acquainted with the early 
Christians. 

These favorable conditions were: (i) An unsur- 



The Empire of Rome. 45 

passed economic domain. It was bounded on the 
west by the Atlantic, on the south by the Great Des- 
ert, on the north by the trackless forests or unculti- 
vated wastes of Germany and Russia ; while its trade 
with Central and Eastern Asia and India, with East- 
ern and Central Africa, was the foundation of the 
prosperity of great cities like Antioch, Alexandria, 
and Carthage. (2) To this unsurpassed 
economic domain Rome gave four hundred 
years of peace such as the old world never knew, and 
as are not found in the history of any Oriental civ- 
ilization. The immense standing army was kept 
mainly on the frontier. As a rule, the conflicts of pre- 
tenders to the empire were not of long duration, and 
concerned mainly the legionaries, and did not greatly 
affect the civic inhabitants. When the barbarians 
burst through the frontier defenses, they found a pop- 
ulation unused alike to war and arms. (3) Rome 
laid down and kept in repair the best and most ex- 
tensive lines of communication before the construc- 
tion of railways. (4) She gave a uniform currency 
and a traffic little hampered by tariff laws to this 
immense population of diverse nationalities and 
tongues. 

Manufactures felt this increased demand of trade. 
They made rapid and large advance in the variety 
and amount of commodities produced. Manufac- 
The division of labor, the associations of tures - 
capital (stock companies) and of laborers (guilds, 
unions, etc.), were never surpassed until our day. 

Great advance was made in agricul- 

Agriculture. 

ture. Improved breeds of cattle and 

sheep, etc., the introduction of new kinds of trees, 



46 The Conquest, 

fruits, vegetables, and their higher cultivation, marked 
the first century of our era. 

This economic prosperity did not continue. The 
causes of its decline were : (i) Slavery, rendering free 
labor disgraceful and unprofitable ; (2) The greed of 
Roman capitalists, accumulating immense estates and 
depopulating the fairest portions of Italy; then enter- 
ing into competition with the manufactures and trade 
of the provinces, and either breaking down their mar- 
Causes ket or ruining them with high rates of in- 
of Decline, terest ; (3) The ruinous system of taxation ; 
(4) The fact that $5,000,000 more was imported an- 
nually from the East than was exported, mainly arti- 
cles of luxury, and this balance was paid in precious 
metals, producing, in time, a dearth of coin in the 
empire. To these should be added the loss of polit- 
ical freedom, and moral deterioration, which renders 
vain the greatest economic advantages. 

In religion, the era of skepticism, profligacy, and 
debauchery, reaching from Sulla to Nero (B. C. 80- 
A. D. 69), gave way to better morals under Vespasian, 
and to a strong craving after the satisfaction of relig- 
ious needs. These the old Roman religion 

Religion. -. > . 

could not reach. They sought relief m 
natural theology — the law of the nature of things — 
like our scientific materialists or agnostics ; in philos- 
ophy, the teaching of Plato, Zeno, and Plotinus ; in 
worships, with their mysteries, purifications, and sym- 
bolism. Meanwhile, religion played a great part in 
the life of the people. Its officers were the leading 
officials, as its temples were the most splendid build- 
ings in every community. Its priesthoods were not 
only supported by the State, but heavily endowed 



The Empire of Rome. 47 

with private funds. Its idolatry came into the Gov- 
ernment, the social and business life, the amusements, 
and the homes of the people. 

The pagan Empire of Rome was the most impos- 
ing fabric of human government the world had ever 
seen. The result of the conquests and wars of the 
aristocratic Roman Republic, its greatness, had been 
preparing for more than half a millennium. It had 
elements of power, of wisdom, and perpetuity beyond 
any preceding form of human rule. It brought to 
warring nations peace. It gave a common citizenship 
and a universal law. Its rise was the golden age of 
Roman literature and of Roman taste and achieve- 
ment in art. It made highways for the nations, and 
fused races, nationalities, philosophies, and religions. 
Its legions for four hundred years made the Pax Ro- 
mana, and its governors its jurisprudence, respected 
from the Firth of Forth to the Euphrates, and from 
the Straits of Gibraltar to the Sea of Azov. The 
eagles of its dominion and the fasces of its rule trav- 
eled unhindered from the cataracts of the Nile to the 
mouths of the Danube and the Rhine. To this reign 
of peace and order, breaking down of national and 
tribal barriers, fusion of customs, ideas, languages, 
and peoples, there was a reverse side. The material 
and industrial basis of the Roman Empire was slav- 
ery — a slavery enormously increased in numbers by 
wars of conquest, and beyond all others harsh, relent- 
less, and cruel. To this witness Roman law, Roman 
industries and prisons, and the Roman amphitheater. 
The extravagance of the emperors and of the Impe- 
rial Administration wasted the wealth of the world, 
and resulted in a system of taxation so burdensome, 



48 The Conquest. 

oppressive, and finally destructive, that it impover- 
ished the most fertile countries, diminished and en- 
slaved the population, and made inevitable the ruin 
of the empire. 

A careful student of the time has said : " The pride 
and luxury of the society which had attained the do- 
minion of the world knew no refinement or restraint 
such as made the Greek decadence last through cen- 
turies; while, in a single generation, the Roman de- 
cline rushed into the steep descent of the sensualities 
and bestialities of society under Nero — an abyss from 
which it never emerged, and the only hope for whose 
redemption could be in no philosophic incitement to 
moral reform, but in a new dogma and a great rev- 
elation/ * 



Chapter II. 

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

We have had before us the outline and propor- 
tions of the society and government of the Roman 
Empire, in which the Christian Church was born, 
with which it was in conflict for centuries, and which 
was its first great conquest. Over against the gigantic 
strength and resources of the one should be set forth 
those qualities of the other which led to its predomi- 
nance and triumph; for these things are not arbitrary. 
God has his laws, which work in every age for the 
establishment of the Divine kingdom. There is an 
increasing action of the moral forces of our nature in 
the Christian sphere. The causes which in the first 
six centuries prevailed in the overthrow of heathen- 
ism in the Roman world are as mighty now for a like 
conquest in the Orient. 

Our Lord sprang out of Judah. The preparation 
for his advent was mainly with that remarkable race. 
This preparation was of vast importance and of 
thrilling interest, but can not be adequately treated 
here. Its outlines are familiar to those acquainted 
with the Christian Scriptures and with Christian 
preaching. Fuller information may be profitably 
sought in the works of Edersheim and Schurer. 
The Church was, in its origin, purely Jewish. The 
apostles and first converts, like their L,ord, were of 

4 49 



50 The Conquest. 

that race. Under Paul's leadership, the national 
limits were overpassed. After the tak- 

Its Origin. . . _ «'«**. <. • « 

ing of Jerusalem by Titus, and its complete 
overthrow by Hadrian, the Jewish element ceases to 
be an important factor in the development of the 
Christian Church. We can never forget our obliga- 
tion to that people, to whose Scriptures we appeal 
and of whom our Lord was born. It was their fault 
and our grief that his own received him not, and that 
they were the fiercest foes, as they were the first in- 
stigators of Christian persecutions. 

Not as a product of Jewish development or from 
any combination with Greek and Roman elements 
did Christianity originate. It owed its existence and 
importance to three things, which intrinsically, and 
certainly in their connection, were unique. They 
are the character or person of its founder, the doc- 
trines which he taught, and the society which he 
formed. 

The founder of no great historic religion has been 
an ordinary man. Jesus differed from the greatest of 
these, not in degree, but in kind. The fulfillment 
of the mission of other men rested upon what they 
did, his upon what he was. Other founders of re- 
ligions wrought to old age. His work closed be- 
fore they would have begun theirs. He manifested 
himself but three years to men ; and his words were 
spoken, and finished was his task. His method was 
equally unique. He did not retire from the world for 
solitude and reflection, like Buddha or Mahomet ; he 
did not elaborate a system and commit it to writing, 
like Confucius ; he did not meet men in the market- 
places and at social gatherings for conversation, like 



The Christian Church. 51 

Socrates. He chose the severest test of the greatness 
of a human personality. He gathered about him a 
few men from the ordinary walks of life, and lived 
with them in the closest intimacy of private life and 
of public ministration. He won men by living with 
them. The teaching by life has been the chiefest 
source of all victories since. The whole effect of his 
mission was the impression he made upon the men 
thus chosen. It was this impression of the nature of 
the man which gave weight to his words and made 
deeds of power seem natural to him. This is the 
origin of all remembered utterances and narratives 
which make him known to us. This impression, 
made by his living with men, reveals a greatness of 
soul, a sublimity of character, a breadth of sympa- 
thy, and a depth of compassion which make him, 
simply as a man, the noblest, the most attractive, and 
the most commanding figure of the ages. In all 
times since, he has been the point of support for 
aspiring natures, struggling souls, and stricken hearts, 
and also of every great moral endeavor of human so- 
ciety where his name was known. These things all 
men confess; but to his followers he has ever been 
the most complete and impressive revelation of the 
will of the invisible God to men. He and he alone 
makes rational, moral, and spiritual the universe in 
which we live. His death and resurrection bring 
the brightness of unclouded day into the unbroken 
darkness of human guilt, human sorrow, and certain 
death. This surely was worthy of the Son of God. 
On the other hand, the total impression that he 
makes is that he is very man. He seeks men, seeks 
to cleanse them, to enlarge their natures, to bring 



52 The Conquest. 

them to a realization of the purpose of their being, 
and all this with a depth of tenderness and affection 
beyond what men feel for their dearest friends. 
When men compare their lives with his, it is the 
narrowness of intellect, the littleness and poverty of 
nature, the lack of depth and breadth, and never the 
reverse, which makes them cry out this life is impos- 
sible. Yet unnumbered thousands in every genera- 
tion testify that this life, so wonderful, so supremely 
regnant, can reproduce itself in the human spirit, 
and that this transformation is the great experience 
of human life. 

The doctrines of Jesus, which are unique with 
him, and which give his teaching the predominance 
among all the faiths of the world, on the lowest 
ground of the principle of the survival of the fittest, 

The cluster around four great truths: i. He re- 
Doctrines, vealed the one God to men ; that is, the 
supremacy and continuity of being and 
law throughout the universe, and in all eternities past 
and to come, and that this God, supreme and regnant, 
is the Heavenly Father of the race. This teaching 
was most antagonistic to the universal polytheism 
and idolatry, the source of its bitterest opposition, and 
yet its most powerful solvent. By teaching God as 
our Father, as the Father of Jesus himself, he made 
the most universal and powerful of human relations 
interpret God to men. 

He revealed the Divine forgiveness. He taught 
that all men needed forgiveness ; that men 

Forgiveness. ... , ,. , 

did not need to die to be lost, but were 
now lost in their sins, and were in danger of eternal 
sin ; that men escaped from sin only by turning, re- 



The Christian Church. 53 

penting, and receiving the Divine forgiveness. The 
Divine forgiveness is a loosing from sin, a cleansing 
from sin, and the beginning of a new life in which 
men do not willfully depart from the Heavenly 
Father, but cleave to him in the endeavor to do his 
will with the whole heart. The purification of the 
heart and conscience from both sin and guilt is alone 
accomplished by the Divine forgiveness. 

He revealed that love is the principle of moral 
and spiritual life in men, as in the nature of God. 
Christian love (aydmi) was a new thing in human his- 
tory. Jesus revealed it to men, and taught that it was 
the principle of the new life. It came to 

Love. 

human hearts, and controlled them through 
the Holy Spirit. It is the law of the individual and 
social life of the Christians. The early ages of the 
Church were bright with its radiance ; and in no 
other respect is its history more instructive to us. 

He revealed immortality to men. All else led up 
to this. The great themes and facts of Christian 
preaching — Christ crucified, Jesus and the resurrec- 
tion — were its guarantee. It did not seem strange to 
them that a love which had overcome the 

. . -.--.- Immortality. 

evil in human hearts and m social life, 
controlling the life by its law, and bringing into Di- 
vine communion, should prepare men, in likeness of 
their Lord, to put on immortality. The spiritual 
life, the enthroning of the Christian love, the in- 
dwelling Christ, are ever the clearest proofs of a life , 
beyond this. . 

These four great truths — God, our relation to him; 
the Divine forgiveness ; Christian love ; and immor- 
tality — were the smooth stones out of the brook 



54 The Conquest. 

through which was overthrown the colossal form of 
the pagan society and State. 

The society Jesus formed was the sling which 
hurled these stones. The secret of the strength of 
this society was that its members were men and 
women convinced that in them lived, and through 
them wrought, the Spirit of Christ — the Holy Spirit 
of the living God. They brought forth the accordant 
fruits. This, in every age and land, is the most es- 
sential and truest characteristic of a Christian Church. 
The religion of Jesus Christ is eminently social. No 
one can receive his Spirit and not wish others to share 
it. With the reception of the Divine for- 

The Society. . % .^ , „ _. . . ' _ . 

giveness was received the Spirit of Christ, 
and by that fact the believer became related to the 
Christian Church. Through this entrance into the 
Christian brotherhood, its "fellowship, and watch-care, 
the purity of the faith and of Christian life was main- 
tained. In the midst of heathen society, from which 
they must in great part separate, there was formed an- 
other society, animated by a different spirit, inspired 
by other ideas, and with other aims. This society 
kept together Christian believers, organized them for 
service, ministered the means of grace, and led the 
attack upon heathenism. These few Christian be- 
lievers — poor, despised, and friendless — were stronger 
than the mightiest empire and the greatest civil so- 
ciety in the world. They formed the true kingdom 
of God, and they waited in ardent expectation and 
devout hope for its perfect realization, .when should 
come unto them their absent Lord. The influence of 
Jesus, the truths he taught, the Church he founded, 
are the great motor forces which acted upon and 



The Christian Church. 55 

moved men then, and which move men now ; they 
transformed human society then, and they change it 
now. They all center in the person of Christ and the 
work he wrought. He was the founder and is the 
substance of Christianity. He is the author and 
finisher of the faith. The greatness of Paul and John 
but bring more prominently before us the source from 
which it was derived. 

Pentecost was the birthday of the Christian Church. 
The Holy Ghost came in answer to the age-long 
prayer of humanity. He came the perpetual witness 
to the incarnation and resurrection of our Lord, and 
the consummation of his mission. That Birth and 
day the mingled tongues of Asia, Africa, Growth of 
and Europe heard in familiar accents the the church * 
message of the divine salvation. The Holy Spirit 
gave a common experience to these widely- sundered 
hearts and lives. The grace of his transforming pres- 
ence knew no barriers of nationality or speech. Then 
was begun the mission-work of the Christian Church. 
She received three thousand converts on the day of 
her birth. For the remainder of the cen- The 
tury the w r ork went on under the direction Apostolic 
of the apostles and those converted under Church - 
their ministry, and is the Apostolic Church. Chris- 
tianity began to spread from Jerusalem as a center 
almost immediately, and that remained the mother 
Church until its overthrow in the destruction of the 
city by Titus. 

The most remarkable of these apostolic mission- 
aries is St. Paul. Added to great natural gifts and 
solid learning, God gave a marvelous conversion and 
call to the apostolate. Converted about 34 A. D., he, 



56 The Conquest. 

as a wise master-builder, in three missionary jour^ 
neys (40-58) laid the foundations of the Church in 
Asia Minor and Greece. On his fifth visit to Jerusa- 
lem since his conversion, he was apprehended, and, to 
prevent his murder by the Jews, taken at once to 
Csesarea (58). There he remained two years in 
prison; but, having appealed to Caesar, made* a winter 
voyage to Rome, where he arrived in the spring of 61. 
He remained in prison two years, in comparatively 
easy confinement ; when on his trial, he, after having 
been five years a captive, was released. About a year 
of liberty was given him, in which he appears to have 
traveled to Asia Minor, and preached the gospel in 
Spain. A second time in prison, he was soon released 
by a martyr's death in June, 64. His let- 
ters give us a very complete picture of the 
man and of his work. His main thought was noth- 
ing less than winning the world for Christ. His two 
great achievements were : The loosing of the obliga- 
tion of the Mosaic law from the converts from heath- 
enism to Christianity, so making it a universal relig- 
ion ; and the teaching of a better righteousness than 
that of the law — the righteousness of faith. He has 
been called the first fundamental theologian of Chris- 
tianity. The order of and dates of the New Testa- 
ment writings, so far as we can determine them, are 
as follows : 

Compare the date of Paul's writings with the Synoptic 
Gospels, 60-80. 

t Thessalonians, 53 St. Matthew, . . Soon after 70 

2 Thessalonians, . . . 53 or 54 St. Mark, 67 

1 Corinthians, . . .58, spring St. Luke, 80 

2 Corinthians, 58, midsummer St. John, 96 

Galatians, 55 or 57 Acts, 80 

Romans, 59, spring James, 50 




ST. PAUL. 



The Christian Church. 57 

Ephesians, 62 or 60 1 Peter, 55 

Colossians, 62 or 60 2 Peter, 67 or 130 

Philemon, 62 or 60 1 John, After 90 

Philippians, 62 2 and 3 John, . . . Before 90 

1 Timothy, 63 Jude, 60 

Titus, , 63 Revelation, . . . 70 or 90-95 

2 Timothy, 64 

Hebrews, 66 

No age shall ever come that shall not be quick- 
ened into enthusiasm by the recorded work and words 
of power of this most heroic soul, this most devoted 
and saintly follower of our L,ord, this ablest and most 
winning Christian missionary of all the Christian ages. 
His influence to-day is not less potent than his work 
more than eighteen hundred years ago. 

Of the life and works of most of the apostles, lit- 
tle has come down to us. With St. Paul wrought 
also the three teachers of the Apostolic 

Peter, 

Age. St. Peter was the preacher on the 
day of Pentecost ; the spokesman of the Apostolic 
College ; the head of the Church of the circumcision 
through all the nations where dwelt the dispersed 
remnants of the chosen people. He was at Antioch 
and Babylon. Tradition speaks of a ministry at 
Rome.* He perished in the Neronian persecutions, 
June, 64. 

St. James, the brother of our L,ord, was to the 
Church at Jerusalem all that St. Peter was to the Jews 
of the Dispersion. He commanded the re- 
spect of the enemies of the Christian faith 
by his devout life; and yet his countrymen stoned 
him, as they had stoned Stephen, 66. He remains the 
ideal type of the converted Jew, and his epistle makes 
for righteousness to-day as did his example and char- 
acter in the days of the expiring Jewish nation. 

*See Appendix, Note A. 



58 The Conquest. 

To St. John was given a longer career and a 
grander mission. After the destruction of Jerusalem, 
and probably after the death of the mother of our 
Lord, St. John removed to Ephesus. There, entering 
upon the work of St. Paul in Asia Minor, he saw 
grow up around him the most prosperous and flour- 
ishing Churches of the first century. He lived to see 
Christians of the second and third genera- 
tion. He had length of days in which not 
only to declare the lord's words, but in which to re- 
flect upon and weigh their meaning. He saw their 
effect upon the world, society, and the Church. From 
the union of such susceptibility and intuition of the 
Divine with his most intimate fellowship with the 
Lord and the maturity of long experience, came the 
richest heritage of the Church — the Scriptures writ- 
ten by the beloved disciple. 

These Scriptures have a larger unaccomplished 
mission before them in the Christian Church than 
any other writings of the Sacred Record. 

The extension of the Church went on among the 
different races of the Roman Empire. After the 
overthrow of Jerusalem, Rome became the great 
center of the Christian world. At the end of the 
first century, the gospel had been fully preached in 
the chief cities of her provinces. Its message had 
been proclaimed beyond the Euphrates and on the 
western shore of India. Its truths found adherents 
south of the Roman dominion, in Arabia and in Africa. 

From the first the Jewish converts in Judea must 
have been considerable in number. This appears 
from the fact of the necessity of conciliating their op- 
position to the work of Paul, as at the Council of Je- 



The Christian Church. 59 

rusalem, and the number of poor saints in tins mother 
Church for whom he made collection. James, the 
brother of the L,ord, was the head of this Church 
until his death. He was succeeded by Symeon, son of 
Cleopas — a relative, presumably cousin, of our Lord — 
who held the position for nearly forty years, being, it 
is said, more than one hundred years of 

- . , . n . ,. The Jews. 

age at his martyrdom by crucifixion, 106 
or 107. After the end of the first century, the Jewish 
Christians divided into two sects — the Ebionites, who 
held that the law should be observed by all Christian 
converts, though sacrifices were done away ; and the 
Nazarenes, who held, according to the Council of Je- 
rusalem, that it was binding only on those who by 
birth were Jews. Ebionitic and Gnostic elements 
were combined in the Jewish Christian heretical sect 
of the Elkasites, who held Christianity to be a critic- 
ally-revised Mosaism. They spread in Syria and 
Arabia. Mohammed became acquainted with them, 
and from them drew those ideas of Christianity which 
he taught in the Koran, and which have been ever 
since the orthodox view of Christianity and its teach- 
ing in all the Mohammedan world. May God open 
the way for a better knowledge than this heretical dis- 
tortion ! These sects have left a large body of apoc- 
ryphal writings, like the Preaching of Peter, the Gos- 
pel of James, the Clementine Homilies, etc. 

The Jews in the Greek and Roman cities were 
more liberal. When they became Christians they 
seem to have entered into the main body of the 
Christian societies, and not to have remained separate 
sects. From among these Paul found some of his 
earliest and best helpers. Such were Aquila and 



60 The Conquest. 

Priscilla, Timothy and L,ydia. These remain as types 
of the movement among the Israelites of the disper- 
sion, until the destruction of Jerusalem and the sup- 
pression of the rebellion of Barcocheba turned the 
feeling of the Jew toward the Christian to intense 
hatred. A form for bitter cursing of Christians was 
adopted among the prayers of the synagogue, and was 
in use for ages after. The relations between Jews and 
Christians, religious, social, and political, since 135, 
would form a book whose tragic interest would sur- 
pass that of any romance, and be no unimportant 
contribution to the history of Christianity and civili- 
zation. 

Through the believing Jews of the Dispersion, 
Christianity gained an entrance among the Gentiles, 
particularly the Greek population of the cities. In- 
deed, Greek was the language of the Church at Rome 
until after 150. It also spread among them by mi- 
gration. Every Christian was a missionary. Within 
a year from the death of Christ there were probably 
Christians in Rome. The Greeks were the first great 
race to become pervaded with the Christian teaching. 
Their language became that of the Christian Scrip- 
tures and of the early Christian Church and its 
writers — a use for which it was admirably 

The Greeks. 

adapted. Its philosophy has in every age 
led thoughtful, inquiring minds, like Justin Martyr 
and Neander, to accept Christ. It was the founda- 
tion of all education, and so the common possession 
of the educated classes. From it has come much of 
the fundamental framework of Christian theology. 
The most flourishing early Churches were in its do- 
main; as Antioch, Alexandria, Corinth, Thessalonica, 



The Christian Church. 6i 

and particularly the cities, and even country districts, 
of Asia Minor. If Christianity drew on the Greek 
population for form of thought and language, it repaid 
the debt in taking to itself and preserving the life of 
the people. The great Eastern or Greek Church has 
been the main sphere of its activity, thought, and in- 
fluence for more than a thousand years. Through it, 
more than by any other means, it affects the world. 

From Antioch, very early, the Christian mission- 
aries preached the gospel in Syria in the native 
tongue. The center of Syrian Christianity was for 
many years at Edessa ; and the seat of its theological 
school was there until after 400, and later at Nisibis. 
They produced devoted missionaries and able scholars. 
A large number of their writings and of translations 
of Greek Christian authors have come down to us. 
The New Testament was first translated 

1 *-r\i 11 ••1-1 Syriac. 

into their tongue. They had a rich hym- 
nology. Christianity spread eastwards. Before 250, 
there were not a few Christians in Persia. They sus- 
tained severe and bloody persecutions from 340 to 
400. Out of enmity to the Roman Empire, the Nes- 
torian and Monophysite sects were protected, and 
found a refuge and home in Persia. Armenia be- 
came Christian in the latter part of the third century 
(280-300), through the labors of Gregory the Illumi- 
nator. Nestorian missionaries carried on their labors 
and founded Churches in China. 

The Jewish and Greek converts early made known 
the glad tidings in the West. Paul's letter to the 
Romans proves that a flourishing Church was early 
established in the capital of the empire. Though 
the early Church at Rome was Greek, yet in the 



62 The Conquest. 

time of St. Paul there were Christians in Caesars 
household; and at the close of the century, under 
Domitian, the emperor's cousin, the Consul Flavius 
Clemens was executed, and his wife, Domitilla, ban- 
ished, probably on account of their adherence to 
the Christian faith. From Rome, Christian teaching 
came to Carthage and the cities of North Africa, 
where it rapidly spread, and where was made the sec- 
in the ond translation of the New Testament 
West. an( j the first in the I^atin tongue. Chris- 
tianity found its way into Spain from Rome, and first 
in the Apostolic Age; early also into the cities of 
Southern France, from Asia Minor, and to those of 
Germany and Britain. The first Christians in these 
cities were probably Oriental slaves, merchants, and 
artisans from Italy, Greece, and Syria. For the 
first two centuries the advance of Christianity was 
by the individual Christian winning the individual 
heathen. Christianity remained in the cities confined 
to the Roman population until after the fall of the 
Roman Empire. In the practical work of preaching 
Christ, these objections were met: Its Jewish, bar- 
baric origin; it was a religion of yesterday; no pic- 
tures or images in its worship ; the heathen called it 
atheism; its morality too strict; political dangers; 
the members from the poorer and lower classes; they 
were accused of fanaticism and creating a new my- 
thology. They met these by preaching monotheism 
as an original revelation, claimed the Christian re- 
ligion as reaching to the beginning of the world, the 
conception of the redemption, and, above all, Jesus 
Christ, who was the concrete ideal of a holy life. 
This preaching was enforced by their strict morality 



The Christian Church. 63 

and brotherly love, and by the heroism of their suffer- 
ing even unto death. Iyoyalty to conviction to this 
extent was a novelty in the heathen world. 

Of the progress of the faith during the second 
century, Tertullian, writing near its close, says (Apol- 
ogy I, 45): "The outcry is that the State is filled 
with Christians. They are in the fields, in the cita- 
dels, in the islands. They make lamentations as for 
some calamity, that both sexes, every age and condi- 
tion, even high rank, are passing over to the Christian 
faith; for now it is the immense number of the 
Christians which makes your enemies so few, almost 
all the inhabitants of your various cities being fol- 
lowers of Christ." Whatever allowance may be made 
for rhetorical exaggeration in this passage, that the 
Christians were rapidly increasing in the West was a 
fact too evident to be denied. Its progress was even 
greater in the East. The rapid rise and variety of 
the heretical sects shows how Christian ideas had 
taken possession of the thought of the time and of 
the most diverse sections of society. 



Chapter III. 

THE PERSECUTIONS. 

Thk preaching of Christianity and its progress 
did not pass unobserved by the Roman State and its 
rulers. Under Tiberius (14-37), Caligula (37-41), 
Claudius (41-54), the early years of Nero, the Chris- 
tians were considered as a Jewish sect, and protected 
by the Roman law. The Jews succeeded in making 
the difference plain to the Government. Under Nero, 
in June, 64, broke out the first great persecution of 
the Christians. Savage and cruel beyond conception, 
the persecution showed what the Church had to ex- 
pect for the next two hundred and fifty years. The 
gigantic conflict was begun. There was no day, from 
that time until 313, when a Christian who would not 
deny his faith had any protection from the law ; nay, 
those bearing the name were outlaws, as much as rob- 
bers. Of this persecution, Tacitus tells us: "A vast 
multitude were convicted, not so much on the charge 
of making the conflagration or burning of Rome, as 
of hating the human race. And in their deaths they 
were made subjects of sport ; for they were covered 
with the hides of wild beasts and worried to death by 
dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set fire to ; and when day 
declined, they were burned, to serve for nocturnal 
lights. Nero had offered his own garden for this ex- 
hibition, and also exhibited a game of the circus, 
sometimes mingling with the crowd in the dress of a 
charioteer, and sometimes standing in his chariot/ ' 
64 



The Persecutions. 65 

This persecution showed the numbers and heroic con- 
stancy of the Christians at Rome. In this time of 
fierce testing of the faith of believers, Peter and Paul 
received the martyr's crown. 

We shall get a better idea of the conflict if we 
consider the attitude of the State and the individual 
emperors toward the new religion. Though Vespa- 
sian and Titus (69-81) were well spoken of by the 
Christians, who regarded them as instruments of Di- 
vine justice in executing judgment upon the Jews, and 
only Domitian (81-96) was a bloody persecutor, yet, 
during all these years, the persecution was continued 
as a permanent police measure against them as a sect 
dangerous to the public safety. This principle was 
merely unwritten law. No edict was issued ; but the 
governors, when any case came before them, judged it 
according to the precedent set them by the Progress of 
emperor. The followers of a sect whose the Conflict - 
tendency was to unsettle the foundations and princi- 
ples of Roman society, were held as outlaws, and the 
very name treated as a crime. Nerva (96-98) called 
back those banished by Domitian. Trajan, who, as 
general and statesman, was called the second founder 
of the empire, ruled from 98 to 117. He wrote a re- 
script or letter to Pliny, governor of Bithynia, which 
remained the fundamental law of the empire until the 
reign of Decius, 250. Trajan directed those accused 
of Christianity, if they sacrificed to the heathen gods, 
should be set at liberty; if not, they are to be pun- 
ished ; that being a Christian is a crime which is ex- 
posed to capital punishment. But he added : " Chris- 
tians are not to be sought out by the State, but ap- 
prehended only upon personal complaints by name. 

5 



66 The Conquest. 

Anonymous accusations are not to be considered. 
Such a thing does not fit my age." The Government 
did not wish to multiply cases. The Christians com- 
plained that they should either be called criminals 
and punished, or called innocent and left in peace. 
We can not be collectively criminals and individually 
innocent. It is against all law to say that, if we will 
only deny or sacrifice, we shall be free. If it is a 
crime to be a Christian, we should be punished; if 
not, we should be undisturbed. Under Trajan were 
martyred Symeon, Bishop of Jerusalem, and Ignatius, 
Bishop of Antioch. Hadrian (i 17-138) was no old 
Roman, but a modern spirit, curious, religious, and 
skeptical. He maintained Trajan's policy, but cau- 
tioned against wholesale accusations. Antoninus Pius 
(1 38-1 61) wished a better religious condition through 
a restoration of the old worship. Christians were ac- 
cused in his reign of causing the famine. Justin 
Martyr tells of cases of individual martyrdom. Poly- 
carp suffered at Smyrna, 155. Marcus Aurelius (161- 
180) — a philosopher and a stoic — whose " Medita- 
tions" show him to be a rationalistic monotheist, up- 
held idolatry. He caused a more rigid execution of 
the law against the Christians. They were to be 
sought out. He thought the Christian fearlessness of 
death was obstinacy. There seems to be a wearisome 
repetition of these opinions of emperors and regula- 
tions of the State. There were life and movement 
enough then. All the imagination and skill of the 
artist can not make these scenes as vivid to us as 
they were to the poor Christians under Rome's ablest 
and wisest rulers. Take this scene, enacted under 



The Persecutions. 67 

Marcus Aurelius at L,yons, in Gaul, 177, and given to 
us by eye-witnesses : 

" Present at the examination of these was Alexan- 
der, a native of Phrygia, and a physician. He lived 
for many years in Gaul, and had become well known 
to all for his love to God, and his boldness in pro- 
claiming the truth. He stood near the judgment-seat, 
and urged by signs those who had denied, to confess. 
The mobs, enraged that those who had formerly de- 
nied should now confess, cried out against Martyrs of 
Alexander, as if he were the cause of this L y° ns » '77- 
change. Then the governor summoned him before 
him, and inquired of him who he was ; and when Al- 
exander said he was a Christian, the governor burst 
into a passion, and condemned him to the wild beasts. 
On the next day he entered the amphitheater with 
Attalus, a man of mark in the city ; for the governor, 
wishing to gratify the mob, again exposed Attalus to 
the wild beasts. These two, after being tortured in 
the amphitheater with all the instruments devised for 
that purpose, and having undergone a severe contest, 
at last were themselves sacrificed. Alexander uttered 
no groan or murmur of any kind, but conversed in 
his heart with God ; but Attalus, when he was placed 
in the iron chair, and all the parts of his body were 
burning, and when the fumes of his body were borne 
aloft, said to the multitude in I,atin : ' L,o, this which 
ye do is eating men ; but as for us, we neither eat 
men, nor practice any other wickedness.' And being 
asked what name God has, he answered : ' God has 
not a name as men have.' 

'After all these, on the last day of the gladiatorial 



68 The Conquest. 

shows, Blandina was again brought in along with 
Ponticus, a boy of about fifteen years of age. These 
two had been taken daily to the amphitheater to see 
the tortures which the rest endured, and force was 
used to compel them to swear by the idols of the 
heathen; but on account of their remaining steadfast, 
and setting all their devices at naught, the multitudes 
were furious against them, so as neither to pity the 
tender years of the boy nor respect the sex of the 
woman. Accordingly, they exposed them to every 
terror and inflicted on them every torture, repeatedly 
trying to compel them to swear. But they failed in 
effecting this; for Ponticus, encouraged by his sis- 
ter — so plainly, indeed, that even the heathen saw 
that it was she who encouraged and confirmed him — 
after enduring nobly every kind of torture, gave up 
the ghost. And the blessed Blandina, — after she had 
been scourged and exposed to the wild beasts, and 
roasted in the iron chair, she was at last inclosed in a 
net and cast before a bull ; and after she had been 
well tossed by the bull, she also was sacrificed, the 
heathens themselves acknowledging that never among 
them did woman endure so many and such fearful 
tortures.' ' 

Commodus (180-192) relaxed the severe measures 
of his father, though there were martyrdoms in his 
reign. He was said to be influenced by his favorite 
concubine, Marcia, who favored the Christians. Perti- 
nax, after a three months' reign, was succeeded by Sep- 
timus Severus (193-21 1). He personally inclined to 
the Persian worship of Mithra, or the sun. He was 
an able general and a great builder and founder of 
public monuments. In 197 he issued an edict pro- 



The Persecutions. 69 

hibiting every subject in the empire from embracing 
the Jewish or Christian faith. Upon this followed 
seven years of persecution in Palestine, Egypt, Africa, 
Italy, and Gaul. L,eonidas, father of Origen, was mar- 
tyred at Alexandria. In this reign, Tertullian wrote, 
when he could not mistake or exaggerate without 
injuring the cause for which he pleaded. Tertuiiian's 
He says (sec. 50): " You put Christians on witness. 
crosses and stakes. You tear the Christians with 
your claws. We lay our heads upon the block ; we 
are cast to the wild beasts; we are burned in the 
flames; we are condemned to the mines; we are 
banished to the islands. Nor does your cruelty, how- 
ever exquisite, avail you ; it is rather a temptation to 
us. The oftener we are mown down by you, the 
more in numbers do we grow; the blood of Chris- 
tians is seed." 

An instance of what Tertullian means we can see 
in an extract from the martyrdom of Perpetua and 
Felicitas, who suffered at Carthage, 202 : M Perpetua 
is first led in. She was tossed, and fell on her loins ; 
and when she saw her tunic, she drew it over her as a 
veil for her middle, rather mindful of her modesty 
than of her suffering. Then she was called for again, 
and bound up her disheveled hair ; for it Martyrs at 
was not becoming for a martyr to suffer Carthage, 
with disheveled hair, lest she should seem 
to be mourning in her glory. So she rose up; and 
when she saw Felicitas crushed, she approached and 
gave her hand, and lifted her up ; and both of them 
stood together. And when the populace called for 
them into the midst, they rose up of their own accord, 
and transferred themselves whither the people wished; 



70 The Conquest. 

but they first kissed one another, that they might con- 
summate their martyrdom with the kiss of peace. The 
rest, indeed, immovable and in silence, received the 
sword thrust ; but Perpetua, that she might taste some 
pain, being pierced between the ribs, cried out 
loudly, and she herself placed the wavering right 
hand of the youthful gladiator to her throat." 

The house of Septimus Severus ; his son, Cara- 
calla (211-218); his cousins, Elagabalus (218-222), 
and Alexander Severus (222-235), were given to 
Syrian worship, particularly of the sun. Julia Mam- 
mea, the mother of Alexander Severus, was a woman 
of extraordinary strength of character, and interested 
in philosophy and the Christian religion. She sent 
for Origen and Hippolytus in order to converse with 
them about their faith. Her son was an eclectic ; he 
was interested in and admired Christianity. He be- 
lieved in immmortality, and inscribed the Golden 
Rule on the walls of his palace. He admired the 
spirit of the Christian society and the organization of 
the Church. He placed the statues of Apollonius 
Tyana, Abraham, and Jesus in his prayer-room. All 
these Septimian emperors favored Christianity, and the 
Churches had peace. 

He was succeeded by Maximinus, the Thracian 
(235-238), a raw barbarian. He hated the Christians 
because they had been friends of Alexander Severus. 
He issued an edict that the bishops and chief clergy 
were to be put to death; but his reign was too short 
and he was too busy to do more than begin its exe- 
cution. 

The Churches were undisturbed during the reign 
of the three Gordians (238-244). Philip the Arabian 



The Persecutions. 71 

(244-249) believed in a religion lying behind all re- 
ligions. He favored the Christians. His wife, Severa, 
corresponded with Origen. 

The Christians did more than to preach the truths 
of Christianity and to follow their Lord to prison and 
to death ; they defended the faith. No Christian can 
read those Apologies, which are never an excuse, but 
a defense, which is also an attack, without a higher 
courage and a warmer glow of Christian love. The 
apologists of the second century were Greek; they 
comprise such names as Quadratus and Aristides, 
Aristo and Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Tatian, 
Mileto and Irenaeus, Theophilus of Antioch and 
Clement of Alexandria. In the third century, Hip- 
polytus and Origen also wrote in Greek. These 
apologists sought to justify the Christian faith, to 
reason, and to educate men. The L,atin apologists, 
Tertullian, Minucius Felix, and Cyprian, wrote in the 
third century ; L,actantius, at the close of the Diocle- 
tian persecution, in the fourth; and Augustine and 
Salvian, in the fifth centuries. The Latin apologists 
attacked directly the heathen religions. Their de- 
fense was an irresistible onset. Augus- The 
tine's " City of God" and Salvian's " Divine Apologists. 
Government'' were written to justify the ways of God 
to a world dying in the agonies of the barbarian in- 
vasions. The object of the apologists was to reply 
at first directly to the emperor, then later to the edu- 
cated classes, .to the charges made against the Chris- 
tians, to protest against persecutions, and to set forth 
the real teachings of the Christian religion. Their 
method was to criticise the heathen religions as fabu- 
lous and absurd and as immoral according to the tes- 



72 The Conquest. 

timony of their own writers; to show that all pecu- 
liar Christian doctrines can be justified to the reason, 
and that Christianity was the primitive revelation. 
They all appealed to the power of the Christian life 
and the constancy of the Christians in martyrdom. 
The only literary attacks upon Christianity which 
have come down to us are those of Celsus, about 150, 
and of Porphyry, about one hundred years later. 
Origen, in his " Contra Celsus, " preserves and refutes 
the attack. The work of Porphyry is much less im- 
portant. The work of the apologists was thoroughly 
and triumphantly accomplished. No form of heathen- 
ism in any age can survive it, if the appeal is made to 
reason. There is no question on which side lies the 
weight of the argument. In spite of the wider 
knowledge and different lines of attack upon Christian- 
ity, and necessarily of defense, after fifteen hundred 
years there is a striking modernness in the thought 
of Origen's reply to Celsus. The four great apologies 
are by Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, and Augus- 
tine. If but two can be read, read Justin and Tertul- 
lian. They bring back the life and dangers of the 
early Church, 

With Decius (249-251) there is a change. Decius 
is an old Roman. He does not believe that Chris- 
tianity and the empire can stand together. He means 
to destroy it from the face of the earth. The edict of 
250 provided that "all men, with their wives and 
children, shall offer sacrifice; if not, be imprisoned, 
and be compelled with all power; if not, then let 
them be executed in the worst manner." The pre- 
fects, or governors, are threatened with severe penal- 
ties if they do not bring back the Christians to the 



The Persecutions. 73 

old religion. They are to be summoned at definite 
periods. This was a general persecution throughout 
the empire. Fabianus, Bishop of Rome, Babylas of 
Antioch, and Alexander of Jerusalem, were martyred. 
Origen was tortured at Tyre. Gallus (251-254) 
carried on the persecution. Valerian (254-260), by 
edict, prohibited all gatherings of Christians; all 
bishops and leaders were to be arrested and sent into 
exile. The clergy who were exiled were to have their 
goods confiscated, and, if they remained Christians, to 
be executed by the sword. Cyprian, Bishop of Car- 
thage, was martyred 258; as were Sextus II, Bishop 
of Rome, and his deacon, L,aurentius. 

Gallienus (261-268) restored the legal position of 
the Christians to that of Trajan's time, gave them 
freedom of worship, and their cemeteries practical 
toleration. So it remained during the reigns of 
Claudius (268-270), Aurelian (270-275), Tacitus (275- 
276), Probus (276-282), Carus (282-283), and Diocle- 
tian (from 284 to 303) ; so that the Churches had 
forty years of peace, and greatly prospered. 

Diocletian was an able ruler, and if he had not un- 
dertaken the persecution of the Christians, would have 
ranked as a great statesman. He gave the Persecution 
Roman Empire the administrative form of Diocletian. 
which it retained in the East until its overthrow in 
1453. Incited by his co-regent Galerius, he began the 
crudest of all the persecutions in 303. Four edicts 
followed each other in the course of the year. He 
decreed the destruction of the Christian churches, the 
burning of the Scriptures, the dismissal of all civil 
and military officials who are Christians, the with- 
drawal of all rights of citizenship, and the imprison- 



74 The Conquest. 

ment of all the clergy. Torture was to be used upon 
those refusing, and every device to compel them to 
sacrifice; and finally death for all Christians. These 
were carried out with all the power of the State. 
"We read of twenty, fifty, and one hundred put to 
death in a single day ; of a whole Church gathered to- 
gether in Phrygia, and then burned, with the edifice 
in which they worshiped ; that women and children 
were cut open alive in the palace of Galerius, in or- 
der to inspect their entrails." 

No wonder that the historian L,ecky sums up these 
sufferings so vividly, an unanswerable reply to the 
depreciation of Gibbon : " We read of 
Christians bound in chairs of red-hot iron, 
while the stench of their half-consumed bodies rose in 
a suffocating cloud to heaven ; of others torn to the 
very bone by shells or hooks of iron ; of holy virgins 
given over to the lusts of the gladiators or the mer- 
cies of the pander ; of two hundred and twenty-seven 
converts sent on one occasion to the mines, each with 
the sinews of one leg severed by a red-hot iron, and 
with an eye scooped out from its socket ; of fires so 
slow that the victims writhed for hours in their 
agony ; of tortures prolonged and varied through en- 
tire days. . . . For the love of their Divine Mas- 
ter, for the cause which they believed to be true, men, 
and even weak girls, endured these things, when one 
word would have freed them from their sufferings." 

These recitals of Christian sufferings make evi- 
dent that the faith of the early Christians was a reali- 
zation — (i) Of the value of the unseen ; (2) The pre- 
vailing might of the Divine order ; (3) The salvation 
of the risen L,ord. None to whom the things of this 



The Persecutions. 75 

world were the chief end of life ; none who believed 
that there was no Supreme Mind in the universe, or 
that he could not make his purpose known Motives of 
to men ; none for whom Jesus was but a christian 
good man and a great ethical teacher, Mart y rdoni - 
ever faced the lions in the arena or the tortures of 
the amphitheater. With these witnesses unto blood, 
there was no question of the Divine power over the 
material order and the realm of nature. Justin Mar- 
tyr stands for them all. " Do you suppose," said the 
prefect Rusticus to him, " that you will ascend up to 
the heaven to receive some recompense there?" " I 
do not suppose," was the martyr's ready correction ; 
"I know it." Spiritual realities were to them the 
great verities of human life. 

Other religions have had their martyrs ; but after 
the enthusiasm of the first or second generation has 
passed away, these witnesses cease. If the Chrlst | an 
victory does not quickly come, the cause is and other 
lost. Where is there a parallel to the two Martyrs - 
hundred and fifty years of outlawry and suffering 
from a power invincible for a thousand years, and 
which represented the civil and political order of the 
world, yet enduring the last persecution with a forti- 
tude equal to that of the Apostolic Age ? 

What was the effect of the persecutions ? They 
consolidated, purified, and reanimated the Church. 
They showed conclusively that the heathen religions 
had lost all vitality, and with them was perishing 
heathen society; that Christianity was the one living, 
growing moral force and spiritual power in a dying 
world. 

While, in the course of centuries, the love and 



76 The Conquest. 

reverence for the martyrs of the Christian faith de- 
Our Debt generated into a baneful worship of saints 
to the and a disgusting exhibition, reverence, and 
Martyrs WO rship of spurious relics, yet the world's 
debt to them is not paid nor their service to human- 
ity ended. The martyrs for civil liberty in modern 
times drew their inspiration from the Christian vic- 
tims of the amphitheater and the Roman executioner. 
No greater service could be rendered to a materialistic 
civilization, a self-indulgent Christianity, an unbeliev- 
ing generation, than its awakening to a stalwart faith 
in those spiritual and supreme realities for which the 
Christian martyrs died 

The battle was to the death; but the Church did 
not die. The pagan empire did. Diocletian abdicated 
issue of the in defeat, 305. Constantine Chlorus did 
Conflict. no t persecute the Christians His son, 
Constantine the Great, succeeded him in 306. He 
saw the sign which conquers, engraved it upon his 
banners, triumphed at the battle of the Milvian Bridge, 
and, as the first Christian emperor, entered Rome, Oc- 
tober 28, 312. The edict of Milan, proclaiming toler- 
ation, dates from 313 ; in 323, Christianity became the 
religion of the Roman Empire. At that time, in the 
western provinces of the Orient, the Christians formed 
one-fourth of the population ; in some provinces of 
the empire, one-tenth; few less than that. Probably, 
out of a population of one hundred millions, ten 
millions were Christians. From 390-410, the heathen 
became a minority. By 550 the heathen worship and 
culture had vanished. It remained in existence in 
the country places in Italy in the sixth century; in 
the Peloponnesus in the eighth and ninth. It was 




< 

Z 

< 



X 

u 



The Persecutions. 77 

confined to the country, and hence called pagan. By 
450, throughout the empire there was a common cul- 
ture and worship of a Catholic Christian character. 

If we consider the influence opposed to Christian- 
ity, and the material means at her disposal, this is 
the mightiest conquest ever made by a re- Magnitude 
ligious faith. Whatever of power, of phi- of the 
losophy, of intellectual culture, of wealth Con< * uest 
or social station was in the Roman world, was ar- 
rayed against the gospel of the crucified Nazarene. 
No bitterer enemies or persecutors were found than 
the Jews, from whose race he sprang, and to whose 
Scriptures he appealed. To the Roman pride of 
power and the stoic ideal of moral greatness the gos- 
pel of Jesus presented an exact antithesis. Humility 
and love took the place of pride and exalted self-re- 
spect. To the most unrestrained, splendid, and uni- 
versal luxury, licentiousness, and vice, the apostles 
and their followers preached the cross, self-denial, 
and chastity, even in thought. This conflict was 
not merely one of taste, of sentiment, of ideals. It 
touched every relation and every hour of daily life. 
The opposition b§>';ween this long-intrenched and 
close-clinging idolatry and the spiritual worship of 
the Christians was not only ever-present and unsleep- 
ing, it was active and aggressive. It had in com- 
mand, and did not hesitate to use, the power of the 
mightiest and most universal empire of the world. 



Chapter IV. 

THE CHRISTIAN EMPIRE OF ROME. 

The Christian Empire of Rome began with Con- 

stantine, who, with all defects, was a great ruler, and 

west, compares 'favorably with the most eminent 

3 East 7 " °f ^is predecessors on the imperial throne. 

313-1453. He removed the Government of the em- 
pire to the finest site ever occupied by a great cap- 
ital, whether of commerce or of political dominion. 
Constantinople is the monument of his genius, as well 
as the bearer of his name. The City of the Sultans sur- 
passes to-day, as it has done for fifteen hundred years, 
in wealth, importance, and population, the mistress of 
the victorious legions of Scipio and Caesar, the cap- 
ital of reunited Italy. The undivided empire of Con- 
stantine endured only to the death of Theodosius the 
Great, at the close of the century in which it had 
been founded. Domestic dissensions and imperial 
proscriptions destroyed the family of Constantine. 
Julian's apostasy and short-lived restoration of hea- 
thenism had no permanent influence. Valentinian 
and Theodosius were able generals and honest rulers. 
They stayed the tide of barbarian invasion until the 
next century. Theodosius divided the empire. 

Alaric, king of the Visigoths, attacked the impe- 
rial city in the feeble reign of his son Honorius, and 

Effect of on August 24, 410, took and sacked Rome. 
Taxation. ^j ie we akened monarchy, the attenuated 
shadow of the Empire of Rome, lingered on, encom- 
78 



The Christian Empire of Rome. 79 

passed and oppressed by the increasing waves of bar- 
barian invasion, until it came to an end in 476. 
Thus fell, not the Roman Empire — that lived on in 
one form or another until 1806 — but the Roman Em- 
pire of the West. 

This rapid conquest was due, not simply to the 
valor of the barbarians, but to the vicious system of 
the Roman administration. It had been for two hun- 
dred years little more than a means for the collection 
of taxes from a diminishing population with decreas- 
ing wealth. The inhabitants were systematically dis- 
armed. Those following any gainful vocation or 
possessing property must be followed in their calling 
by their children, who could not change their resi- 
dence. The Decurionate having for generations been 
an instrument of fiscal oppression, from which even 
its members sought to escape, could appeal to no love 
of country, rally no defenders of the State, or com- 
mand any public resources to resist invasion. The 
civil life of the cities being entirely dependent upon 
the capital, they could not once unite for common de- 
fense when all that men hold dear was at stake. 

The Roman Empire in the West went down be- 
fore the barbarians. The East was earlier attacked, 
but repulsed them. The local political or- The Roman 
ganization independent of the imperial Empire 
power afforded a means of resistance, lntheEast * 
greatly aided by the denser population, the greater 
number of walled towns, and the everywhere easy 
access to the sea. The imperial arms were superior 
in the open field ; and the existence of these local au- 
thorities made impossible such complete subversion of 
the political order as in the West. 



80 The Conquest. 

Yet in the East the havoc made by these invaders 

was terrible. Finlay (Vol. I, p. 186, History of 

Effect of Greece) says: " In many provinces the 

Barbarian higher classes were completely extermi- 

Invasions. nQt ^ The 1qss of their slayes &nd g^ 

who had been carried away by the invader, either re- 
duced them to the condition of humble cultivators, or 
forced them to emigrate and to abandon their land, 
from which they were unable to obtain any revenue 
in the miserable state of cultivation to which the cap- 
ture of their slaves, the destruction of the agricultural 
buildings, and the want of a market had reduced the 
country. In many of the towns the diminished pop- 
ulation was reduced to misery by the ruin of the dis- 
trict. Houses remained unlet; the laborer and the 
artisan could alone find bread ; the walls of cities were 
allowed to fall in ruins ; the streets were neglected ; 
many public buildings had become useless ; aqueducts 
remained unrepaired; internal communications ceased." 
Out of the overwhelming disaster and ruin of the 
Old World came forth the two political forces which 
Two Con- were to dominate Europe for the next 
trolling Pow= thousand years, and to affect Christendom 

ers Surviving ^ ^ 

the Downfall until this day. The one, the Eastern Em- 
of Rome. pj re ^ a surv i va i f the past, conserved the 
old civilization, and so adapted the despotism of 
imperial Rome to changing conditions as to secure its 
existence for a millennium ; the other — the new birth 
for the new time— was that group of new nationali- 
ties and Governments, rising upon the overthrown 
foundations of the Roman Empire in the West, which 
were to develop into the Christendom of the Middle 
Ages and the States of modern Europe* The per- 



The Christian Empire of Rome. 8i 

petuity and importance of both the Eastern Empire 
and the new nations and their influence depended 
upon their acceptance of the Christian faith and the 
work of the Christian Church. 

Thus, out of this flood of invasion, defeat, and dis- 
tress arose the Empire of the East, to be the bulwark 
of Europe, not only against the savage 
tribes of the North, but for eight hundred 
years against the conquests, first of the Saracen, then 
of the Turk; against the Mohammedan religion and 
dominion. When centuries of struggle, of warring 
civilizations and religions ceased, the Western nations 
had come to consciousness of their coherent national 
existence and power. When Constantinople at last 
fell, England was, under Henry VI, in the midst of 
the wars of the Roses, and the way prepared for the 
reign of the house of Tudor; there had been four 
hundred years of national life since the Norman con- 
quest ; two centuries had elapsed since Magna Charta, 
and one since the founding of the House of Com- 
mons; France was making way for L,ouis XI, and 
Spain for Ferdinand and Isabella. The banded forces 
of Christendom by this time far outweighed those of 
the Moslem dominion ; yet then the fall of Constanti- 
nople brought Turkish armies into Hungary and Ger- 
many for two hundred years. The Eastern Empire 
preserved for Europe the treasures of the Greek lit- 
erature and arts, and the knowledge and authority of 
Roman law. She gave us the founders of the art of 
modern painting and the Byzantine style of architec- 
ture, more widely spread than any other, extending 
from Moscow to Spain, and from St. Mark's at Venice 
to India. Order, law, and a public administration, 

6 



82 The Conquest. 

where they governed, had their lesson for the world, 
which knew so little of them. 

The Greek Church gave the people the Scriptures 
in their own tongue; hence there was a connection 

influence between the people and the clergy which 
of the Greek did not exist in the West. The clergy in 

church. t k e jj ast were more popular and more 
learned, and the laity less ignorant and of more polit- 
ical importance. The Greek Church was the inform- 
ing spirit of the empire, its support in peril, and the 
cause of its prolonged existence. She performs the 
like office to-day in Russia, the modern representative 
and heir of the traditions of the Byzantine monarchy. 
From the death of Theodosius (395) to the assas- 
sination of Maurice (602), eleven emperors reigned; 

Eastern an( ^ ^ et t ^ ie throne descended from father 

Emperors, to son but twice in two hundred years. 

395-527 Apj ie exce ptions were Arcadius (395-408), 
the son, and Theodosius (408-450), the grandson, of 
the last ruler of the undivided Empire of Rome. 
The former was ruled by his wife Eudoxia, and the 
latter, during his entire reign of thirty-two years, by 
his sister Pulcheria, who alone of the family inherited 
the ability and character of her grandfather, the great 
Theodosius. She crowned her labors by marrying the 
Senator Marcian (450-457), to take the throne on her 
brother's decease. The five emperors who succeeded 
the second Theodosius were all born in the lower or 
middle ranks of life, and when past middle age came 
to the throne. Three of them — Marcian, Zeno (474- 
491), and Anastasius (491-518) — succeeded to the em- 
pire through the choice of the daughters of the em- 
perors; two of them— L,eo I (457-474), and Justin I 



The Christian Empire of Rome. 83 

(518-527), by the choice of the imperial guard. They 
formed a series of prudent, economical, and reforming 
emperors, whose providence laid the foundation for 
the successes of the reign of Justinian. 

Justinian came to the throne in 527, and reigned 
for thirty-eight years. He was a diligent adminis- 
trator. His reign was renowned for the Justinian, 
successes of his generals, Belisarius and 527-565. 
Narses, who reconquered North Africa, Italy, and 
Eastern Spain from the Vandals and the Goths. He 
caused the codification of the Roman law, and lav- 
ished the wealth of the empire in costly public build- 
ings, as well as foreign wars. His prodigality laid 
the foundation for the misfortunes of his successors. 
St. Sophia, in Constantinople, though now a mosque, 
is a monument of his brilliant reign. 

The successors of Justinian were, like his prede- 
cessors, men in mature life. Justin II (565-578) 
was his nephew. His successor and son- Eastern 
in-law, Tiberius (578-582), whose reign was Emperors, 
cut short by an untimely death, was the 565 " 6 ° 2 - 
best emperor who ruled from Constantinople. His 
son-in-law and successor, the upright but unfortunate 
Maurice (582-602), a man of tried capacity in civil 
administration, but lacking sagacity and unsuccessful 
in war, inheriting the results of Justinian's reign of 
glory, as Louis XVI of France did those of the Grand 
Monarch, after a reign of twenty years, saw his chil- 
dren slain before his eyes, and was then put to death 
by the cruel usurper Phocas, in 602. 

To trace the rise and fall of nations is one thing ; 
to feel the throes of a dying world is quite another. 
It is difficult to realize the amount of human suffer- 



84 The Conquest. 

ing caused by this displacement of populations, the 
overturning of an established social order, and the 

The Ruin settlement of vast hordes of barbarians 
of the amid the wealth and refinement of the 

ow world. j 1 jgj ieS j- civilization of the ancient world. 
Taking from the citizens the bulk of their personal 
property, and from one to two-thirds of their real 
estate, and sinking of the smaller proprietors into 
serfdom were the least of the evils of the barbarian 
invasions. Some estimate of the ruin wrought may 
be made from the fate of the provinces of North Af- 
rica. In the later years of Rome's dominion, they 
were exceedingly prosperous and fruitful, supplying 
the grain for the imperial capital, and filled with 
flourishing cities. They never recovered from the 
Vandal invasions and rule ; suffered new losses upon 
the reconquest of Belisarius, and had no power to re- 
sist the onset of the Saracen conquest. 

The case of those who suffered from the inroads 
of the heathen barbarians, like the Huns under At- 
tila, was much worse. 

Of even our Saxon heathen ancestors, a contem- 
porary — Apollinaris Sidonius — writing about the time 
Saxon of the first invasion of Britain, says: "Be- 

invaders. f ore t hey raise the deep-biting anchor from 
the hostile soil, and set sail from the continent for 
their own country, their custom is to collect the crowd 
of their prisoners together, by a mockery of equality, 
to make them cast lots which of them shall undergo 
the iniquitous sentence of death ; and then, at the 
moment of departure, to slay every tenth man so se- 
lected by crucifixion, a practice which is the more 
lamentable because it arises from a superstitious no- 



The Christian Empire of Rome. 85 

tion that it will insure them a safe return. They 
think the foul murders which they thus commit are 
acts of worship to their gods, and they glory in ex- 
torting cries of agony instead of ransoms from their 
victims.' * 

So the fertile lands of Thrace and Macedonia — 
modern Bulgaria — although in the immediate vicin- 
ity of Constantinople, were ravaged more than once 
each generation after 378. The barbarian leaders 
withdrew their hosts, leaving behind them smoking 
ruins and piles of dead bodies, inviting pestilence. 

If this was so in the provinces, how fared it with 
imperial Italy herself? Italy, whose brave sons had 
made the rule of Rome commensurate with ^ 

- . .„. «, r , . . - r Fate of Italy. 

the civilized world, felt now the weight of 

oppression meted out to others for seven hundred 
years. First, Alaric, with his Visigoths, marched the 
whole length of the peninsula. His hosts were fol- 
lowed by those of Odoacer, Theodoric, Vitiges, and 
Totila, while the ruder Lombards crowded in and took 
permanent possession of the land. Justinian's gen- 
erals, Belisarius and Narses, warred in the heart of 
Italy for twenty years, and inflicted more misery than 
all the barbarians, and secured for the Eastern em- 
perors for two centuries the Exarchate of Ravenna. 

Following Procopius, an English historian gives a 
vivid picture of the horrors of that time in Central 
Italy — scenes not without parallel in those days of 
doom of a dying people. 

" The war had now lasted four years, and it was 
over a ruined and wasted Italy that the wolves of war 
were growling. The summer of 538 was long re- 
membered as the time when Famine and her child 



86 The Conquest. 

Disease, in their full horror, first fell upon Tuscany, 
Liguria, and ^Emilia. The fields had now been left 
two years uncultivated. A self-sown crop — poor, but 
still a crop — sprang up in the summer of 537. Un- 
reaped by the hand of man, it lay rotting on the 
ground; no plow stirred the furrows, no hand scat- 
tered fresh seed upon the earth ; and in the following 
summer there was, of course, mere desolation. The 
inhabitants of Tuscany betook them to the mount- 
ains, and fed upon the acorns which they gathered in 
the oak-forests that cling around the shoulders of the 
Apennines. The dwellers in ^Emilia flocked into 
Picenum. It was computed that not less than fifty 
thousand peasants perished with famine. Procopius 
marked the stages of decline in this hunger-smitten 
people, and describes it : First, the pinched face and 
yellow complexion, surcharged with bile; then the 
natural moisture dried up, and the skin, looking like 
tanned leather, adhering to the bones; the yellow 
color turning to a livid purple, and the purple to 
black, which made the poor, famine-stricken country- 
man look like a burned-out torch; the expression of 
dazed wonder in the face sometimes clinging to the 
wild eyes of the maniac — he saw and noted it all. 
As is always the case after long endurance of hunger, 
some men, when provisions were brought into the 
country, could not profit by them. However care- 
fully the nourishment was doled out to them in small 
quantities at a time, as one feeds a little child, still, in 
many cases, their digestion could not bear it, and 
those who had survived the famine died of food. 
Elsewhere, the famine-wasted inhabitants might be 
seen streaming forth into the fields to pluck any 



The Christian Empire of Rome. 87 

green herb that could be made available for food. 
Often, when they had knelt down for this purpose, 
their strength would not serve them to pull it out of 
the ground. And so it came to pass that they lay 
down and died upon the ungathered herbage, un- 
buried — for there were none to bury them — but un- 
desecrated ; for even the birds of carrion found noth- 
ing to attract them in these fleshless corpses." 

But to Rome, the Eternal City, the proud empress 
of the world, the haughty mistress of legions used to 
eight hundred years of victory, came the Downfall 
direst retribution. She who had conquered of R° me » 
the world was conquered, sacked, and pillaged, time 
after time, by Alaric (410), Genseric (455), Greeks 
under Belisarius, and Goths under Totila — five times 
before 552. She who had plundered the wealth of 
every ancient civilization was successively pillaged as 
no other city had been. She who had been exempt 
from taxes for over five hundred years, while absorb- 
ing the wealth of nations through her rapacious pub- 
licani, fell into the clutches of the imperial logothetes 
till her poverty was too evident to be denied. She 
whose forum had been crowded with hostages saw 
three hundred children of her nobles, who were held 
in custody, fall in one day before the maddened Goth. 
Vitiges, in 537, broke down her aqueducts, thus de- 
stroying the most lavish water-supply that any city 
ever possessed. Totila, in 546, broke down two-thirds 
of her walls, carried off the gates, and left Rome, for 
a brief time, without an inhabitant. At the end of 
our period, she was at the lowest point of her humil- 
iation. Gregory the Great says : " What more can 
befall us in this world ? We see nothing but sorrows; 



88 The Conquest. 

we hear nothing but complaints. Ah, Rome! formerly 
mistress of the world, what has happened to thee? 
Where is the Senate? Where are the people? The 
buildings are in ruins, and the walls are falling. . . . 
You all know how our troubles are increasing. 
Everywhere the sword! Everywhere death! I am 
weary of life." In the famine of her siege, food had 
brought more than its weight in gold. Later the gar- 
rison had raised grain for sustenance on the site of 
Nero's Golden House and the palaces and gardens of 
the aristocracy. Corinth, Jerusalem, and even Car- 
thage, might deem themselves avenged. Though more 
than two centuries had passed since the empire be- 
came Christian, the old religion prevailed among the 
aristocracy and ruling class at Rome. The heathen 
spirit may be seen in the giving of gladiatorial games 
by Honorius one hundred years after Constantine. 
Only the conquest and destruction of Alaric and 
Genseric, and the disasters of the sixth century, de- 
stroyed the heathenism of the patrician homes and 
made the new Rome a Christian city. Upon the old 
Rome — the Rome thirsting for the blood of saints, 
and delighting in the cruel games and tortures of the 
amphitheater — came the fulfillment of the prophecy 
of the revelator : 

" Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, 
death, and mourning, and famine ; and she shall be 
burned with fire ; for strong is the L,ord God which 
judgeth her. . . . And the merchants of the earth 
shall weep and mourn over her ; for no man buyeth 
their merchandise any more, the merchandise of gold, 
and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine 
linen, and purple and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine 



The Christian Empire of Rome. 89 

wood, and all manner of vessels of ivory, and all 
manner of vessels of most precious wood, and of 
brass, and of iron, and marble and cinnamon, and 
odors and ointments, and frankincense and wine, and 
oil and fine flour, and wheat and beasts, and sheep, 
and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. 
And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed 
from thee, and thou shalt find them* no more at all. 
The merchants of these things which were made rich 
by her shall stand afar off for the fear of her tor- 
ment, weeping and wailing, and saying, Alas ! Alas ! 
that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and 
purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious 
stones, and pearls ! For in one hour so great riches 
is come to naught. And every shipmaster, and all 
the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as 
trade by the sea, stood afar off, and cried when they 
saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is 
like unto this great city? And they cast dust on 
their heads and cried, weeping and wailing, and say- 
ing, Alas ! Alas ! that great city, wherein were made 
rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her 
costliness ! for in one hour she is made desolate. 
Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles 
and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her." 
(Rev. xviii, 8-20.) 



Chapter V. 

THE BARBARIANS. 

ThHrK have passed before us the Roman Empire, 
in the height of *its power and its decline ; the Chris- 
tian Church, growing from an unknown Jewish sect 
until it became stronger than any political power in 
the world. We have seen the ages of conflict be- 
tween these two contending forces, and have felt hor- 
ror and compassion alternate amid scenes of Christian 
persecution and the anguish of a dying world. We 
have seen the rule of Rome pass from pagan to 
Christian emperors, and undergo a renewal which 
should prolong its career another millennium. 

We now turn our faces from the past to the fu- 
ture. We look upon a brighter scene as we mark the 
progress of a new force in the world and in civiliza- 
tion. If the old world and its culture died, it was to 
make way for a better one. The Teutonic peoples 
were without letters and without arts ; yet to them 
were to pass the rule and the home of the proudest 
and mightiest conquerors known in human history. 
Brave, pure in domestic life, truthful and loyal, rude 
and savage, but not cruel, they brought the vigor of a 
new race, and nature unspoiled, if untrained. The 
control of future ages and the civilization of the race 
lay not with the empire whose capital was on the 
Bosphorus, but with those tribes of the German for- 
ests who, through the influence of Christianity, be- 
came nations, and have come to the dominion of the 
90 



The Barbarians. 91 

world. The society whose beginnings we now trace 
fills and dominates Christendom until this day. We 
now enter upon a new world. 

The barbarians first threatened the existence, and 
then the borders of Rome, from the days of Brennus 
to those of Marcus Aurelius, or for more than five 
hundred years. Taught by the conquests of Caesar 
and the successes of the earlier emperors, they were 
restrained until the Franks made a permanent breach 
in the frontiers, A. D. 250. In seven years (168-175) 
under Marcus Aurelius, more than one hundred thou- 
sand Roman soldiers were taken prisoners by the 
barbarians, and the resources of the empire weie 
taxed to the utmost. About a century later, Decius 
fell in battle against them, 254. A little over a hun- 
dred . years later, Valens perished at Adrianople. 
The persistent approaches of the Teutonic invaders 
were not checked by abandoning to them the province 
of Dacia, beyond the Danube, or the transfer ot 
power from the Tiber to the Bosphorus. In 378 
Valens, the Eastern emperor, was defeated and slain 
at the battle of Adrianople ; and from that time the 
recurring waves of barbarian invasion were never 
checked. The Goths, the Vandals, the Franks, the 
Heruli, and the Lombards were all of Teutonic blood 
and training, with kindred speech and institutions, 
and common vigor of race and martial valor. 

The Goths overran Italy. Under Alaric, after 
three sieges, they took Rome in 410. They joined in 
repelling the Huns under Attila in 451. 

* - . '- . r , ~ , The Goths. 

iheodonc, king of the Ostrogoths — great- 
est of the Gothic rulers — defeated the Heruli and 
killed their ruler, Odoacer, the first king of Italy, and 



92 The Conquest. 

reigned in his stead at Ravenna, from 489-526. The 
Goths invaded Spain in 415, and founded a kingdom, 
which they extended and consolidated, and which en- 
dured until the Mohammedan conquest in 711, and 
has colored all the after-history of the Spanish race. 
The Vandals began their westward march in 406. 
They overran Northern Africa in 429 ; took Carthage 
in 439 ; and under their great but ruthless 

The Vandals. . . 

captain, Gensenc, sacked Rome in 455. 
The armies of the Emperor Justinian, under Belisa- 
rius and Narses, broke the power of the Vandals in 
Africa, and overthrew the Goths in Italy. Rome was 
besieged and taken five times in sixteen years before 
552. After this date, with the exception of the Gothic 
dominion in Spain, neither Goths nor Vandals ap- 
pear in history. 

The The Lombards descended into Italy un- 

Lombards. ^er Alboin in 568, and after reigning for 
two hundred years, remained the permanent con- 
trolling race-force in Northern Italy. 

The Franks, following other Germanic invaders 

of Gaul, particularly the Goths and Burgundians, 

who had defeated Attila at Chalons in 451, 

The Franks. . . ™ ' 

came into possession of the land, and giv- 
ing it their name, called it France. Before 500, un- 
der their able and victorious leader, Clovis — the first 
king of the Franks" in France — they founded the 
first of modern Christian nations. At the close of 
this period (600), the Roman race had perished in 
France, in Spain, in Italy, in Northern Africa, in Ger- 
many, and in Switzerland, and in the northern and 
western half of what is now Turkey in Europe. So 
England had been overrun and taken possession of 



The Barbarians. 93 

by the Saxons, and was yet to be conquered both by 
the Danes and the Normans. 

The heathenism of civilization had been over- 
come, so that its power passed into Christian hands. 
The heathenism of barbarism remained. Conversion 
The barbaric world was the greater con- of the 
quest, viewed with respect to the extent of 
its sway or the results of its conversion. The Goths 
were a great Teutonic people, dwelling between the 
Baltic and the Black Seas. Christian captives, brought 
among them from their raids, first made known to 
them the new religion. Ulfilas, of their blood, became 
the first apostle of their nation. He settled with a 
portion of the tribes on the lands south of the Dan- 
ube, where he served as a bishop for forty years. He 
translated the Scriptures into their tongue — the first 
accents of Teutonic speech to re-echo the Gospel 
story. Ulfilas was an Arian. The Arians believed 
that Christ was of a different substance from the 
Father, and therefore of inferior divinity. Through 
Ulfilas and his followers, the Goths East and West, 
the Vandals, the Suevi, the Burgundians, and the 
Lombards, became Arian Christians — a fact of most 
momentous significance in the history of barbarian 
conquests. Arianism seemed to interfere less with 
the desires of savage warriors, and having a looser 
organization, to impose less discipline and restraint 
than the orthodox faith. Through evil and good re- 
port the tribes remained for two hundred years faith- 
ful to the teachings of the Arian creed. Hence Ala- 
ric, Theodoric, Genseric, and Totila were all heretics 
in the eyes of their orthodox or Catholic Christian 
subjects, and could hardly found a stable dominion. 



94 The Conquest, 

They reverenced the orthodox bishops and priests, 
and, except the Vandals in Africa, did not persecute 
the laity; but their Christianity was always that of 
the tribe, never that of the nation. 

It was, therefore, of vast importance when Clovis, 
the king of the Franks, adopted the faith of his Cath- 
olic wife, Clotilda. From that time the 
power of the Franks increased, until they 
formed the first of Christian nations of barbarian de- 
scent. The Arian power was overthrown in Africa 
and Italy; the Gothic Recared of Spain became 
Catholic in 589, and king of the Lombards at the close 
of the century. Over the barbarian hosts conquering 
France, Italy, Spain, and Africa, had passed the two 
forms of Christian faith. Heathenism in worship had 
disappeared, but heathenism in life remained ; and, 
alas, how much of it had found entrance into the 
Church itself! At the end of the period, Christian- 
ity had conquered the Empire of the East, and thrice 
the greater portion of the Empire of the West ; once 
the civilized Roman world, twice in Arian and Cath- 
olic forms the barbarians, who were to be the endur- 
ing foundations of the modern world. 

The barbarian conquests produced no line of 
great men. Theodoric, founder of the Ostrogothic 
influence of Kingdom in Italy, left no successors, and 
th on the Ch k* s kingdom was wrested from his race in 
Barbarians the next generation ; while the successors 
of Clovis, the ill-fated Merovingians, raised up no 
ruler to be remembered. Yet upon those new foun- 
dations of race, language, institutions, customs, senti- 
ments, and ideals the Christian religion built up the 
fabric of modern civilization. She preserved what 



The Barbarians. 95 

was most precious and enduring in the old civiliza- 
tion, refined the splendid vigor and courage of the 
new races, and informed them with a spirit as alien 
to their wild marauding valor as to the haughty pride 
of the imperial legions. To the strength, freedom, 
reverence, and chastity of the Teutonic invaders the 
Church brought the best treasures of the old culture; 
she restrained their passions ; tamed their fierceness ; 
brought them under rule and law ; but, most of all, 
gave that direction and impetus to their religious na- 
ture which resulted in the Germanic form of the me- 
diaeval Church, its fittest material symbol being the 
consummate flower of the art of the architect — the 
Gothic cathedral. 

Hence the men to be recalled as the founders of 
these nations are the Christian missionaries. They 
laid the foundation of stable government work of 
and civilization, as well as led the people to christian 

n . . Missions 

take the first and greatest step m national among the 
life — the conversion from idolatrous hea- Barbarians 
thenism to Christianity. For what they did, and for 
the influence of their work on all ages since, their 
names should be held in everlasting remembrance. 

There are only a few glimpses of the work which 
went on for three hundred years among these savage 
invaders. That it was done, and remained done, is 
the great fact in Christian history. It could not have 
caused the same results if the conversion of the em- 
pire had not preceded ; but it will prevail mightily on 
the earth after the power of Rome has waned. Not a 
few lessons for the conduct of modern missions can 
be drawn from the record of these saintly and suc- 
cessful followers of our Lord. 



96 The Conquest. 

Some of the missionaries were captives, as was 
Succath, or St. Patrick ; some were hostages, as was 

Work Ulfilas. The one in the hardships of a rig- 
oi Captives. orous bondage among the heathen, the 
other in the splendid surroundings of the imperial 
court, proved the value of the religion of Jesus Christ, 
and felt called to evangelize the heathen. Ulfilas for 
forty years was a most successful missionary. Had 
his faith been orthodox instead of Arian, his converts 
might have been the founders of a nationality as en- 
during as that of the Franks or Saxons. 

St. Patrick was born near Glasgow, Scotland, in 
387. At the age of sixteen he was taken captive by 
st. Patrick, the Irish. After about seven years of slav- 
387-465. ery, he escaped, but was held in thrall by 
his strong desire to win the Irish to the religion of 
Christ. For eleven years he translated and studied 
in the monasteries of Southern Gaul. He began his 
mission-work in Ireland in 432, and for more than 
thirty years made missionary tours through the island, 
preaching to the chiefs and converting the clans. His 
knowledge of the language, and raising up of a clergy 
who could teach in the native tongue, were large ele- 
ments of success in his work. " He and his associ- 
ates had made for themselves, by the labor of their 
own hands, civilized dwellings amid the tangled for- 
ests and the dreary morass. At a time when clan- 
feuds and bloodshed were rife, kings rose and fell 
suddenly from their thrones, and all else was stormy 
and changeful, they had covered the island with mon- 
asteries, where very soon the Scripture began to be 
studied, ancient books collected and read, and mis- 
sionaries trained for their own country and for the 



The Barbarians. 97 

rest of Europe. Every monastic establishment was an 
outpost of civilization amidst the surrounding hea- 
thenism; to reclaim the tribes from their supersti- 
tions, to revise their old laws and usages, was the one 
object of their lives. " 

There were hermits like St. Severinus, who was, 
apparently, a native of the East, and of noble origin. 
He spoke Latin as his native tongue, and The Work of 
was a presbyter, trained in the monastic "le^rinus* 
life in the deserts of Thebaid. He never 452-482. 
spoke of his origin, and none knew of his past life. 
He came to the Roman province of Noricum, the 
lands of the Danube between Passau and Vienna, 
about 455. It was a scene of horror and desolation 
amid Attila's warring sons and the invading Teu- 
tonic tribes. Amidst the dissolution of all political 
and social order, and the constant rapine and plunder 
of the barbarians, Severinus taught and ministered 
for thirty years, dying at Vienna, 482. He taught by 
his own example how to endure suffering, and yet to 
trust and hope in God ; while he himself was the 
source and stay of such moral order as remained. 
He lived a strict ascetic life, going barefooted in win- 
ter as well as in* summer, and even over the frozen 
Danube. He slept on hair-cloth at night, and wore 
it in the daytime. Until sunset he fasted, unless on a 
day of festivity. In his humility, he would allow no 
credit to be given him for his endurance, but said 
that God made him an example to others to warn and 
to encourage them. All gifts were refused, and he 
declined the episcopate. He lived in a little cell or 
hut, around which were grouped others in which 
dwelt those who chose to live with him a monastic 

7 



98 The Conquest. 

life. His disinterestedness, his ceaseless charity, and 
knowledge of human nature gave him the reverence 
and respect, not only of the people with whom he 
lived, but of their savage neighbors. They regarded 
him with awe for his prophetic power. Though tak- 
ing nothing for himself, he collected tithes for the 
redemption of captives and the relief of the poor. 
He devoted himself especially to the release of the 
captives taken by the marauding bands who overran 
the province. The king of the Alemanni promised 
to free his prisoners and withdraw from Roman ter- 
ritory. When he did not keep his word, Severinus 
appeared in his presence, and so awed him that he at 
once sent back seventy captives. The soldiers being 
unpaid, began to dissolve and to plunder for them- 
selves. One cohort remained faithful ; but they sent 
a messenger to Italy for their wages, but he was in- 
tercepted and killed. In the midst of these scenes 
of misery, Severinus encouraged the resistance and 
promised victory to those soldiers who remained, and 
which they gained; or he warned the inhabitants of 
the towns of the approaching invasion, so that they 
might remove to a place of safety. Those who did 
not heed were killed or taken away captive. To the 
sick and the poor he ministered, and sought to tame the 
pride and violence of the barbarian kings. The fu- 
ture greatness of Odoacer he predicted when he was 
but a common soldier; and he foretold the accession 
of Paulinus to the episcopate of the capital of Nori- 
cum. When about to die, he called to him the king 
of the Rugi, and exhorted his hard-hearted wife, 
Giso, to a better life, at the same time warning them 
of approaching disasters. He urged the people to 



The Barbarians. 99 

withdraw from the land and seek homes in Italy. 
Then he called around him his fellow-monks, and 
gave them his dying charge, which few can read, after 
fourteen centuries, without emotion. He called them 
to his side, kissed them, and received the holy com- 
munion. Stretching himself in the form of the cross, 
he commanded them to sing the Psalm, " Praise ye 
the Lord, all ye Jiis saints," and slept in the Lord. 
Such high-hearted courage, unselfishness, and bound- 
less charity laid the foundations of the new world. 

Many more of these missionaries were monks at 
the head of a band of Christian brethren. They 
crossed the seas, or plunged into the pathless The work 
forests, or erected schools for the training of ol Monks - 
the people or of missionaries to other tribes. Such 
were St. Martin of Tours, and St. Columba, the 
founder of Iona. 

St. Martin was born of heathen parents, in Pan- 
nonia, in 316. He was a soldier by profession, and 
had served in more than one war. He st Martin 
was converted and went back to his native of Tours, 
country, sought his mother, and won her 3I =4 °°' 
to Christ. For some time he lived the life of a her- 
mit on an island near Genoa. In 360 he began his 
first monastery. In 371 he was consecrated Bishop 
of Tours. His fame centers in his monastery at that 
city. He used all his influence to save the lives of 
the Priscillian heretics in 388. He died in 400. He 
owes his renown largely to his friend Sulpicius Sev- 
erus, who wrote his life. He is the earliest patron- 
saint of France. 

St. Columba, the founder of the celebrated mo- 
nastic settlement at Iona, was born at Garten, in 



ioo The Conquest. 

Donegal, Ireland, in 521. After having been in- 
volved in the tribal wars of Ireland, he became a 
st. Coiumba, monk, and founded two monasteries in Ire- 
521-597. land. In 563 he went to Scotland. He 
founded the mother monastery on the island of Iona. 
He preached to and converted the Picts of Northern 
Scotland; and his disciples, the islands north and 
west of the mainland. He and his followers thor- 
oughly evangelized these lands. He died in 597. Of 
his character, a contemporary says : " In every work 
of mercy, he was most ready with his assistance, and 
healed with mildness the mental and bodily ills of all 
who came to him. He exercised toward himsejf the 
strictest discipline to leave others a good example, 
and he abhorred all carnal and mental vices. His 
ordinary food was bread and herbs, his drink water ; 
but on festivals of the Church, he ate bread made of 
corn, and drank a cup of ale or whey. His bed was 
not a soft and easy couch, but the bare ground, with 
a stone for his pillow." 

Another biographer tells us of the monastery at 
Iona: " It was of the simplest character, consisting of 
Monastery a number of small wattle-built huts, sur- 
ationa. rounding a green court. It included a 
chapel; a dwelling-house for the abbot and his monks; 
another for the entertainment of strangers ; a refec- 
tory and kitchen ; and outside the trench a rampart, 
a byre for the cows, a barn and a storehouse for the 
grain, and other outbuildings. All these were con- 
structed of timber or wattles." 

Of their life it is recorded : " Their rule required 
of them that, morning and evening, they should re- 
pair to the oratory and join in the sacred services 



The Barbarians. ioj 

Every Wednesday and Friday, except in the interval 
between Easter and Whitsunday, was a fast day, 
and no food was taken until three o'clock 

Life at lona* 

in the afternoon, except on the occasion of 
the arrival of a stranger, when the rule was relaxed, 
that they might indulge their national hospitality. 
The intervals of devotion were employed in reading, 
writing, and labor. Diligence was inculcated by the 
exhortations and life of the founder, who allowed no 
hour to pass in which he was not engaged in prayer, 
or reading or writing, or some other employment. 
1 Reading' included chiefly the study of the Holy 
Scripture, especially the Psalter, which was diligently 
committed to memory ; and besides this, that of books 
in the Greek and Latin languages, and the lives of 
some of the saints. St. Columba was distinguished 
for his devotion to this occupation, and the books of 
Kells and Durrow are wonderful specimens of the 
perfection which his followers acquired in the arts of 
transcribing and illuminating service-books and man- 
uscripts. Active labor was also required of every 
member of the little community. He learned to till 
the ground, to sow the corn, to store the grain, to 
milk the cows, to guide the skiff or coracle on the 
stormy sea." 

Some, not a few, missionaries were ambassadors 
of Christ in the courts of petty chiefs or great kings 
of those days. Such was Remigius, Bishop work of 
of Rheims, when, in answer to the request Remits, 
of Clotilda, the wife of Clovis, he came to andciovis. 
instruct and prepare for baptism the king of the 
Franks. " The sacrament was administered on Christ- 
mas-day. The church was hung with embroidered 



102 The Conquest. 

tapestry and white curtains, and blazed with a thou- 
sand lights, while odors of incense filled the place. 
The king was struck with awe. " Is this heaven 
thou didst promise me?" said he to the bishop. 
" Not heaven itself, but the way thither/' replied the 
bishop. The service proceeded. As he knelt before 
the font to wash away the leprosy of his heathenism, 
" Sicambrian," said Remigius, " gently bow thy neck; 
burn that thou didst adore, and adore that thou didst 
burn." 

Such was Augustine of Canterbury, a monk of St. 
Andrew, at Rome, the monastery of Gregory the 
Augustine of Great. At the command of that great 
Canterbury, Pope, he set out across France; but, dis- 
59 " ° 5 ' couraged by what he heard of the heathen 
Saxons, turned back. Under the renewed command 
of Gregory, he, in company with forty monks, again 
undertook and successfully prosecuted his journey, 
arriving in England in 596. At their head he 
marched in solemn procession, to hold audience with 
Ethelbert, king of Kent. He preached Christ to him, 
and won the king to the Christian faith. On June 
2, 597, Augustine baptized him, to the great joy of 
his Christian wife Bertha — the first Saxon king in 
England to accept the Gospels and the Church which 
were henceforth to rule the Northern nations, as well 
as the land of Rome. Eight years later, the work of 
the missionary was done, and he was buried in the 
yet unfinished Abbey of Canterbury. 

Thus these captives, hermits, monks, and bishops, 
who appear at the courts of the kings, won a might- 
ier conquest than Caesar's legions, and founded a do- 
minion more enduring than that of his successors. 







O 
j 

CL 



The Barbarians. 103 

It seemed in these centuries as if, with the bar- 
barians, the forests had crossed the Rhine and the 
Alps, and spread over the once fertile fields contrasts of 
of France and Italy. Where had flour- these Ages. 
ished towns in the midst of a cultivated district, the 
place deserted by man was taken possession of by 
nature, and the forests concealed the buildings and 
walls. History recalls no parallel of this revolution. 
The subdual of the forests and plains of North Amer- 
ica for settlement, in this century, equals it in mag- 
nitude; but in the one, civilization replaced savagery; 
in the other, barbarism destroyed a proud and ancient 
civilization ; and suffering, misery, and ruin filled 
North Africa and all Europe, except a part of the 
Balkan peninsula. 

The temple of the Capitoline Jupiter, which had 
witnessed so many barbarian chiefs bound and fol- 
lowing the car of their conqueror up the Via Sacra, 
who, after gracing his triumph, suffered death at his 
hands, saw the successors of those chiefs, at the head 
of barbarian hosts, ascend the same way to pillage for 
weeks the palaces, and decimate the descendants of 
the commanders of victorious legions — the aristocracy 
of Rome. It had seen the spoils of the treasuries of 
the world pass before its portals. It saw its gates of 
gold carried off by one barbarian general, while an- 
other took away half of the gilded tiles of the roof. 

The Coliseum, the monument of the magnificence 
of Vespasian, built by the toil of Jewish captives, 
where the death-agonies of the martyrs of the Chris- 
tian faith delighted the populace and rulers of Rome, 
saw the remnants of that population fed and kept 
alive by the charity of a Christian bishop, who filled 



104 The Conquest. 

the place once occupied by the emperor and the 

Senate. 

In the midst of this mightiest and most protracted 

of revolutions, one stable element alone remained. 
TheEie- ^ e °^ order had become Christian in 
mentoi name. In name the barbarians became 

continuity. Christians alsa Though G nly in name, it 

gave opportunity for the worship, the institutions, the 
truths, and spirit of the Christian religion, not only to 
minister to the miseries of a dying world, but to nour- 
ish and mold the nascent civilization of modern 
times. At the foundation of all our political order 
and complex civilization is Christianity. 

In no historic period have been taught more im- 
pressive lessons in the divine education of the race 
than in the early Christian centuries. 

The fall of pagan Rome teaches the necessary fail- 
ure of materialistic civilization. The experiment can 
Failure of never be tried on a wider scale, or in more 
Materialistic favorable circumstances. No ruin could 
civilization. be more complete No historian fails to 

read and record its lesson. The follies of the first 
French Revolution confirm its teaching. It would 
seem as if the atheistic statesmen of Italy, the Social 
Democrats of Germany, and the Church of the In- 
different in England and America, might lay it to 
heart. 

The persecutions and triumph of Christianity set 
in vivid light the fact that they make no mistake who 
Divine order side with God. The scaffold or the stake 
Evident on t he side of God and truth is more to 
be desired than thrones among their adversaries. 
The spiritual kingdom and civilization does not fade 



The Barbarians. 105 

or die. It alone prevails. There is a Divine order 
in human affairs. 

The triumph and world-wide reign of the religion 
of Christ is sure. It presents the noblest ideal, the 
sublimest truth, the best message that the Lessons of 
religious nature of mankind can receive. the 

It subdues and remedies human sin. It Con( > uest - 
was given for the redemption of mankind. Those 
doubt its prevalence who doubt the possibility of 
such redemption — that any power can overcome the 
evil in human nature and in human life. The future 
welfare and progress of the race is bound up in the 
development and power of the Christian faith. 

Nor do its victories pale. There are witnesses as 
ready to go to prison and to death for the name of 
Christ in all Christian lands this day as in the days of 
Christian martyrdom. There are as illustrious and 
devoted missionaries as any age can show. The 
Church of Livingstone and Duff, Patteson and Han- 
nington, Judson, Goodell, and Coan, Paton, Thoburn, 
and Taylor, need not doubt that God is in the midst 
of her. Meanwhile the glorious examples of the mis- 
sionaries of these ages enforce those prime essentials 
of enthusiastic faith, lifelong sacrifice, disinterested 
love, which with humility and labor, under God, com- 
mand success. 



THE TRUTHS THAT WON. 

107 



Chapter I. 

TEACHING OF THE EARLY CHURCH-THE 
APOSTLES' CREED. 

Rkugion has ever been the first and most im- 
portant element in every human society and civiliza- 
tion. Quinet has said: "The variations of Religion and 
paganism reveal the chief cause of the va- Theology, 
nations of the social life of antiquity. Religion is the 
ideal which reigns over a whole civilization, giving 
to its arts even the same family air." That the 
Christian religion holds a not less important relation 
to modern civilization it is hoped will be evident in 
this volume. 

Religion has been defined as the living reciprocal 
relationship of God to man and man to God. Its aim 
and effort is communion with the living God. The 
Christian religion is this relationship as based upon 
the Christian revelation contained in the Holy Scrip- 
tures. Religion is a matter of the inward personal 
life. It concerns the emotions and will quite as 
much as the intellect. It appeals to and commands 
the assent and devotion of the whole man. His whole 
nature is its domain. To this nature Christianity ap- 
peals, and demands the decision of the will upon its 
claims to purify and rule the personal and social life 
of men. For this purpose its truths are preached 
and believed. These truths win the man, and they 
win society. They bring salvation to the soul, and 
perpetuity to the State and civilization. 

109 



no The Truths that Won. 

Theology is the intellectual apprehension of these 
truths, their relation to each other and to all other 
truth. Hence the task of theology varies with the 
varying sum and aspects of human knowledge ; but 
she is always the queen of the sciences, allying the 
whole circle of knowledge in every age to the high- 
est thoughts reached by the human mind. The de- 
velopment of Christian theology was made necessary 
by preaching Christianity to the educated heathen, 
and answering objections, and defending it against 
their philosophers. So the apologists were the first 
Christian theologians. It was developed by the de- 
fense of Christian truth against its distortion and 
mixture with heathen elements by heretical sects. It 
was farther developed by the desire of the ablest 
Christian thinkers, independent of controversy, to 
arrange Christian truths in the best order and propor- 
tion; that is, system. Though as theology in any 
systematic form always follows and never precedes 
the conquests of religion, yet every advance in the re- 
ligious history of men, every great reform, is born of 
some great soul getting a larger knowledge and drink- 
ing deeper of the truths of God and his purpose for 
men. This was the significance of the teaching of 
Christ. His soul was large enough to incarnate and 
make known to men the profoundest truths for their 
help and salvation. 

The one great instrument by which Christian 
truth was spread among men during the centuries of 
its outlawry and persecution was preaching. It will 
require an effort of the mind to put ourselves in the 
place of those who first listened to it. There was no 
general education of the people; there were no printed 



Teaching of the Early Church. in 

copies of the Scriptures for private reading and study. 
There was no New Testament in existence until after 
the writing of St. John's Gospel at the The Mission 
close of the first century. There was no of Preaching 
authorized collection of the Scriptures of Apostolic 
the New Testament in general use among A ^ e - 
the Churches, as were the Scriptures of the Old 
Testament, to the exclusion of other Christian writ- 
ings, until more than fifty years later. Paul's first 
letter, the first in order of time of the New Tes- 
tament writings, was not penned until twenty years 
after the Pentecost, and our earliest Gospels were yet 
later. The appeal was not to the written Scriptures 
of the New Testament, but to the preaching. It was 
the living word of the living man that conveyed the 
truest impression of the Lord crucified and risen, of 
his deeds of love and power, and words of salvation. 
If we were to listen to this preaching, we would hear 
first the reference to the prophets as the basis of the 
teaching, much as the Christian preaching of our day 
refers to the New Testament. The speaker, having thus 
set forth the hope of Israel, growing more clear and 
definite through the ages, proceeds to declare its ful- 
fillment through the Christ whom the Jews crucified, 
and whom God raised from the dead, and through 
whom now is preached repentance and forgiveness 
of sins. Next is given to those who receive 
the message, in public and in private, the Lord's 
words, and narrative of his life, death, and resurrec- 
tion, the precious and common gospel of the Chris- 
tian preaching. To this truth is added the attesta- 
tion of the Spirit of God, present with the preacher and 
the congregation, and manifesting himself, not only 



ii2 The Truths that Won. 

to the hearts of men, but by permanent endowments 
of gifts and capacities. Thus were developed more 
than is possible by education, native abilities; and 
others were added whose existence was never sus- 
pected, and whose exercise mightily aided in the 
spread of the faith. The presence of the risen L,ord, 
accompanying the preaching by his Spirit, was made 
known, not only by the changed habits, dispositions 
and desires, and renewed nature of the individual be- 
lievers, but by the new power — that of Christian 
love — which came into and pervaded the new society. 
The new truth, the Divine power which accompanied 
it, and the results which followed from it in the new 
life of the individual and of society, were what made 
the preaching, not the written Scriptures, the means 
of founding the Christian Church in the chief cities 
of the Roman Empire. It was a ministration of Di- 
vine life, through consecrated human life, to the life 
of men and society. After the appeal to the Old 
Testament if the audience were Jews, and to the 
teachings of the poets and philosophers if they were 
Greeks, and the presentation of the death and resur- 
rection of the Son of God as the universal ground 
for immediate repentance before God and belief in 
our Lord Jesus Christ, there would come the teaching 
of the L,ord's words and his works. These would be 
emphasized at baptism and the ford's Supper, which 
were observed from the first, and in their application 
to the inward life and daily practice of believers. 
They thus became the living standard by which men 
and Churches measured themselves before any writ- 
ten Gospels came into general circulation. It is very 



Teaching of the Early Church, 113 

hard for us to realize the intellectual attitude of the 
men of that day. Most of them could not read ; but 
their memory served them immeasurably better than 
ours. It had never been debilitated by a daily press. 
Words heard in a service were remembered, and re- 
membered literally for a lifetime. St. Anthony so 
learned his Bible that he did not need to refer to any 
written word. The great preachers and theologians 
had a command of the letter of the Scriptures that 
seems impossible to men of our time. These facts do 
not exclude the existence and circulation of fragment- 
ary accounts of the work and words of our Lord 
from the first. Indeed, the opening words of St. 
Luke's Gospel seem to make certain their existence. 
But there was no such necessity felt for their use, 
and no such circulation of them as would seem es- 
sential to us. That the preaching — universal, living, 
mighty in spiritual power — was the means of pre- 
serving as well as of proclaiming the truth, and of 
founding the Churches, seems to be one of the funda- 
mental facts of the early apostolic age. 

By the time of the destruction of Jerusalem all 
this was changed. The older apostles and ministers 
of the Word, who had been eye-witnesses Turning- 
of his work and passion, were dead. They point, 
had left behind them the memory of the 7 ° A * D 
truths they had taught. The first three Gospels 
and the most of the New Testament was then in 
writing. The youngest disciple, the one most inti- 
mately associated with his Lord, remained to guard 
the deliverance, to preserve the tradition, and, by his 
writings, to complete the Canon. The second gener- 

8 



ii4 The Truths that Won. 

ation of Christians appealed to these writings as to 
the Old Testament. From the Epistle of Barnabas 
down we have the quotations from which the whole 
New Testament could be restored, if the manuscripts 
were destroyed. The first place in these writings 
was given to the Lord's words and the record of 
his life; then came the letters of St. Paul and 
the other apostles ; then the Acts and the Revela- 
tion. 

The common faith ot the early Christians included 

a belief in the Supreme God as the Heavenly Father, 

hence monotheism; a belief in the resur- 

Common . «•■*-«• • 

Faith of the rection, eternal life, and the kingdom of 
Early q 0( j f or men> >T receive this gift of God, 

Christians. _ _ . . * _ ' 

men must repent of their sins, believe on 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and live lives of self-denial, 
inward and outward purity. Christ was believed to 
be, and received as, the Revealer of the true God and 
his will for men, their Redeemer from sin through 
his death, and as living the perfect life and making 
this life possible to men. Hence, as the Savior and 
Judge of the world, to those who renounced the world 
the Spirit of God brought the renewal of nature and 
the indwelling of Christ, which enabled believers to 
live in the Spirit and to be a community of saints. 
They believed this common spiritual experience lev- 
eled all barriers of race, nationality, social position, or 
even sex. In the Church was found equality and 
brotherhood as nowhere else this side heaven. The 
two sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper 
were the distinctive marks of this society from its 
founding, as the command of the risen Lord. 

The Apostolic Fathers are those who wrote in 



Teaching of the Early Church. 115 

the age succeeding the apostles. Their writings are 
mainly practical. They have great value The 
as witnesses to the teaching and life of Apostolic 
the Church in the age succeeding the athers - 
apostles and the New Testament Scriptures. 

The Epistle of Barnabas was written from Alex- 
andria, probably about 80 A. D. It is moral in im- 
port, and catechetical in form. Its aim is 

Barnabas. 

to prove, through the use of the allegoric 

method, that the Old Testament is spiritual in its 

teaching. 

The Epistle of Clement, Bishop of Rome, was 
written to the Church at Corinth, 96 A. D. He 
moves in the atmosphere of the apostolic 

«« * r ^ Clement. 

teaching; he recalls the careers of Peter 
and Paul, and gives glimpses of the Church organi- 
zation. The so-called Second Epistle of Clement is 
the earliest Christian sermon extant outside of the 
New Testament, written about 130 A. D. 

Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, wrote his epistles on 
the way to martyrdom at Rome, where he suffered, 
107. The seven genuine letters show an 

\ . . ^ . . i , ,. Ignatius. 

enthusiastic Christian zeal and readiness to 
die for his Lord. They exalt the episcopate as a de- 
fense against division, and warn against the Gnostic 
errors already springing up. 

The " Teaching of the Twelve," in fifteen chapters, 
is of Alexandrian origin, and dates from about no. The 
first six chapters are a treatise on Christian .« Teachin ~ 
morals, setting forth the two ways of life and of the 
death very much like the Epistle of Barna- we ve ' 
bas. The remaining chapters are a manual of Chris- 
tian worship, with directions added in regard to the 



n6 The Truths that Won. 

reception of apostles, prophets, and wayfaring Chris- 
tians, and the choice of bishops and deacons. 

"The Shepherd" of Hermas was written from 

Rome, where his brother was bishop, about 140. It 

is a homiletic allegory, ethical in its aim. 

Hermas. 

It shows that Christians can and should re- 
pent of sins committed after baptism. It is of the 
least literary merit of any of the Apostolic Fathers. 1 

Papias and Polycarp were scholars of St. John, 
while Polycarp was the teacher of St. Irenaeus. 
Papias is known to us only by a few fragments of 
Papias and his "Oracles of the Lord," an exegesis 
Polycarp. ra ther than a collection of the Lord's 
words. He was a Millenarian. Polycarp's letter is 
written from Smyrna, where he was bishop, and 
where he suffered martyrdom, 155. He quotes, in a 
short space, from Matthew, Luke, Acts, 1 Peter, and 
Paul's Epistles, including the Pastoral Epistles. 

The progress of the development of these truths 
into the docrines of the Christian Church and their 
crystallization into its creeds divides itself into five 
periods : 

First period, 30-170, by which time the Apostles' 
Creed was in universal use in the Churches of the 
Catholic Christian faith. 

Second period, 170-254 to the death of Origen. 

Third period, 254-381 to Council of Constanti- 
nople, the close of the Arian controversy. Revised 
Nicean Creed. 

Fourth period, 381-451 to the Council and Creed 
of Chalcedon; and 

Fifth period, 400-600. The Monophysite contro- 
versies. The Pelagian controversy. 



Teaching of the Early Church. 117 

The developments which culminate in the creeds 
came always as the result of controversy. The 
first Confession of Faith required of be- 
lievers was the acknowledgment of the t o the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in baptism. Authoritative 

^ • • r 1 • 1 -n ... and General 

This direction, found in Matthew^ xxvm, use of the 
10, was in use from the first, and the verse Apostles' 

Creed. 

is better attested by early quotations than 
almost any other passage in the New Testament.' 

The first controversy which we have recorded was 
caused by the Christian Jews seeking to impose the 
yoke of the law upon the Gentile converts. How 
steadfastly Paul resisted this, with what 

Ebionites. 

passionate hate he was regarded, how his 
life was embittered and his work and influence sought 
to be destroyed, we may read in his Epistles. A 
striking confirmation of the existence of this hatred 
is found in the Ebionite sect. Though followers of 
the Judaizers of St. Paul's day, they did not emerge 
into prominence until early in the second century. 
They held that the obligation of the law was univer- 
sal ; that Jesus was not born of the Virgin, but that 
the Divine Spirit came upon him at baptism ; that he 
was a good Jew, but that Paul was an apostate from 
the law, and a false apostle. They were never numer- 
ous, but lingered on until the fourth century. 

As Ebionism would restrict Christianity to the 
limitations of a Jewish sect, so Gnosticism, at the 
other extreme, would make it a philosophy of re- 
ligion which should take into itself all the 
permanent elements of the Greek philoso- 
phy, Persian dualism, and Christianity. In this age 
of universal intercourse of nations and knowledge of 



n8 The Truths thai Won. 

religions, which for the first time surpasses that of 
the beginning of our era in the Roman Empire, we 
now see this same movement going on. An effort is 
made to replace Christianity by a higher development 
called Theosophy, or Christian Science, or some other 
name, in which it shall be a component element with 
esoteric Buddhism, the Vedantic philosophy, theurgy, 
spiritualism, or other offshoots of alien faiths and 
fantastic philosophies. In this there is nothing 
new or alarming. This eclectic movement may lead 
away individuals; it has neither force nor vitality 
enough to touch the foundations of the faith. So 
the Gnostics led away good, pious people, had a 
strict morality, anticipated Christian theology in some 
particulars, formed numerous Churches and commu- 
nities, but faded away before the awakened conscious- 
ness of the Church to the majesty and power of her 
L,ord, and the sentiment that his teaching is the abso- 
lute religion, and no factor of a higher development. 
The first of the Gnostics was Simon Magus, men- 
tioned in the eighth chapter of the Acts, and his dis- 
simon ciple, Menander. He seemed to have a great 
Magus. following in Samaria, and came to Rome to 
teach his doctrines, which were a mingling of Syrian- 
Phcenician idolatry and Christian ideas, he himself 
being the representative of the highest God. 

Cerinthus, who lived in Asia Minor in the time of 

St. John, followed him. He taught that the world 

was not created by the highest God, but by 

Cerinthus. , . . _ 

an inferior being. Jesus was a man natu- 
rally begotten, into whom Christ descended at his bap- 
tism, and from whom he separated at the crucifixion, 
so that Christ did not die. 



Teaching of the Early Church, 119 

Marcion was a practical, reforming, rather than an 
intellectual or philosophical leader. He was a pros- 
perous ship-owner from Pontus, who came to Rome 
in i^q. He joined the Church there, to 

oy 111 r Marcion. 

which he gave a considerable sum of 
money. He was expelled for his heretical teaching, 
144. He traveled much in the East, and founded his 
societies in Christian communities. He was living in 
163. Marcion taught that the God of the Old Testa- 
ment, the God of creation and the law, is not the su- 
preme or good God, the God of redemption. All the 
New Testament writings, except the Epistles of Paul 
and the Gospel of Luke, were rejected. Marcion was 
a strong religious character, of strict morality and of 
great organizing talent. Marcionite Churches were 
formed wherever the Christians were at all nu- 
merous. 

Following Saturninus and Basilides, Valentinus was 
the last and ablest great teacher of the Gnostics. " In 
his school were started those problems of 

. -**»*., Valentinus, 

the relations of the persons m the Trinity 138-160. 
and the natures in Christ, which occupied Rome. 
the Greek fathers for three centuries. His 
writings are marked by originality and depth;" and 
yet his scheme was fantastic and absurd. 

The most important of the Gnostic teachings 
were: The distinction of the highest God from the 
Creator of the world— the opposition between creation 
and redemption, so that the mediator of the Gnostic 
one can not be the mediator of the other; Doctrines. 
the highest God is not the God of the Old Testa- 
ment, hence it was not his revelation ; matter is inde- 
pendent and eternal — evil inheres in matter; the ab- 



120 The Truths that Won. 

solute God unfolds himself in aeons, or heavenly 
powers; Jesus and Christ are sharply distinguished — 
there is no real union between Christ and the man 
Jesus; Christians are divided into three classes — 
spiritual (who are saved), natural (who are capable of 
being saved), material (who are not); the distinction 
is rather intellectual than moral, though including 
both. The second advent is rejected. A severe 
asceticism was taught, though a smaller part thought 
the sensuous nature indifferent, and became libertines. 

The Gnostics anticipated the Church in endeavor- 
ing to found their whole doctrine upon the New Tes- 
tament Scriptures without the aid of tradition, and in 
their distinction in regard to the Old Testament as in 
part fulfilled, in part done away, and in part changed. 
With them originated the Roman Catholic doctrines 
of purgatory, of the two standards of morals — one 
for the religious, and one for the common Christian — 
and that the soul of the advanced Christian is the 
bride of Christ. 

Though falling beyond the limits of the first 
period, in logical order comes the last of the eclectic 
Manichaeism, attempts to form a universal religion. This 
350-1200. was ma( j e by Mani, of noble Persian de- 
scent, born in Southern Babylonia, 215. His father 
was an adherent of a Babylonian sect, which had been 
influenced by Christianity. Mani traveled extensively 
in Central Asia and India, and, returning, began to 
teach his religion. He made many converts, and 
came to the Persian court of King Sapor. In 270 
he would have been arrested, but escaped by flight. 
Hormuz (272-273), his successor, favored Mani; but 
he was soon followed by Bahram I, who delivered 



Teaching of the Early Church, 121 

him to the rage of the Magi an priests. He was cru- 
cified and his body flayed in 276. 

Mani's system was not the heresy of a Christian 
sect, but was built on the foundation of the old 
Semitic, Babylonian nature-religions. It assimilated 
Persian and Christian elements ; yet Mohammedanism 
is much nearer Christianity than Manichaeism ; for 
Mohammedanism is monotheistic, while the chief 
effort of Manichaeism was to solve the problem of 
the origin and existence of evil by a crude dualistic 
materialism. Iyight is good, darkness evil. Men es- 
cape from the dominions of darkness to that of light 
through the acceptance of the teaching of Mani, the 
greatest of the prophets, or, in the West, the Para- 
clete, and by a strict ascetic discipline. There is no 
redemption in the system. In the West it became 
greatly modified by Christianity, and enthralled the 
strong mind of Augustine for nine years. To its ap- 
parent solution of the problem of % evil it added a sim- 
ple worship, a strict morality, and a firm organization. 
It spread rapidly. For centuries its head, or pope, 
lived at Babylon, and later at Samarcand. From it 
sprang the heretical sect of Bogmiles, Paulicans, and 
Cathari, which troubled the Church in the thirteenth 
century; after which they disappeared. Augustine 
combated their opinions, and is the chief writer 
against them. 

Against the widespread, subtle, and most danger- 
ous Gnostic errors and heresy, the Church, its teach- 
ers, and bishops had to contend from 125 Defense of 
to 250. From this opposition, essential to the Fatth - 
the life of Christianity arose three important de- 
velopments: First, the adoption of the Apostles' 



122 The Truths that Won. 

Creed as the universal Confession of Faith for the 
Church. We can trace its use before 140 in the 
Roman Church. Some trace it back to the time of 
St. Paul ; but of this we have no proof. In its old 
Roman form, it is as follows: 

"I believe in God the Father Almighty. And in 
Jesus Christ his only begotten Son our Lord, who 
was born of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary : 
crucified under Pontius Pilate and buried; the third 
day he arose from the dead ; he ascended into heaven, 
and sitteth at the right hand of the Father; from 
thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. 
And in the Holy Ghost ; the holy Church ; the for- 
giveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; (the 
life everlasting).' ' " The Maker of heaven and earth' ' 
was added in the Gnostic controversy. The other 
clauses were added later; the descent into hell, the 
last of all. 

This Creed is strictly monotheistic. The Father 
Almighty is the Creator of the world and of matter. 
He created all things, so that they are under his 
power and dominion. This excludes all dualism. 
Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Son of man. 
This excludes all docetism, views of Cerinthus, and 
dynamistic monarchianism, those of Paul, of Samosata. 
The Christian doctrine of Last Things, or Escha- 
tology, excludes all Gnostic doctrines of aeons and 
development. This Creed thus shuts out definitely 
the Gnostic doctrine from the teaching of the Church. 
Those who realized the greatness of the struggle and 
its pressing danger can not repeat this earliest of the 
Christian creeds without seeing in it a memorial of 
one of the greatest victories won by Christian truth. 



Teaching of the Early Church. 123 

The ages have only added to the value of these great 
truths the Creed proclaims. They have won, and 
they will win. 

A second result of this conflict with Gnosticism 
was the formation of a strict or closed New Testa- 
ment canon, so as to shut out all but the New 
apostolic writings from an authoritative or Testament 
devotional use in the Church, and to in- Canon - 
elude those shut out by Marcion's or any other muti- 
lating rule. 

The third result was the development of the power 
of the episcopate, which will be treated in the third part 
of this volume. From these three sources as the issue 
of this conflict with heresy — the Apostles' The 
Creed, the New Testament Canon, and the Episcopate, 
power of the episcopate as the guarantee of the pu- 
rity of doctrine — arose the old Catholic Church, includ- 
ing the East and West, and as opposed to the heret- 
ical sects. At the end of this period it stood forth to 
the world a great religion and firmly-established 
Church; its Scriptures, Creed, and organization en- 
abling it to stand firm against the cruel persecutions 
which were to come, and greatly aiding in that conflict 
with the empire and the barbarians which was to issue 
in her triumph. 



Chapter II. 

FOUNDING OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY— ORIGEN. 

The second period, which extends from 170 to 
254, saw the rise of the greatest Church teachers be- 
fore the time of Constantine. The most important of 
these were Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Tertullian, Clement 
of Alexandria, and, above all, Origen. They were all 
vigorous and successful apologists. The great work 
of Irenaeus and Hippolytus, in which Tertullian 
joined, was combating Gnosticism. The defense 
against false teaching and its repulse must always 
follow its attack. So completely was their work 
done that the ground was cleared for Origen to lay 
the foundations for a comprehensive statement of the 
whole circle of Christian doctrine. The period was 
marked by the rise and decay of Montanism, and the 
rise of those heretical opinions concerning the Trinity 
and the relation of the Son to the Father, which pre- 
ceded the outbreak of the Arian controversy. 

Our period opens with a controversy no longer of 

mere intellectual interest, but of practical import as 

bearing upon the daily life of believers and of the 

Church. Montanism ran its course from 

Montanism. 

150 to 300. Montanus appeared about 150 
in Pepezua, Phrygia. He called believers to receive 
the reign of the Paraclete (Holy Ghost) through the 
prophecy which Montanus proclaimed. " The heav- 
enly Jerusalem is in Pepezua. Now is the reign of 
the Paraclete. Stand aloof from the world; leave 
124 



Founding of Christian Theology. 125 

house and home, and come to Pepezua, and build up 
the kingdom of God ! Bring to an end the worldly 
conformity of Church by strict personal life, and by 
the exercise of strict moral Church discipline on all 
sinners in the Church ! The prophets are to decide 
on all cases of difficulty." Later, in the West, the 
gathering at Pepezua was given up, and the effort was 
made to bring the whole Church to their rigorist 
opinions. In the Church there have always been 
those who believed that the Church should stand alto- 
gether aloof from the world, and utter an unceasing 
protest against its spirit and its works, and those 
who believe that Christianity is to pervade the whole 
of human society, and thus bring in the kingdom of 
God. The tendency of the latter class is to a laxity 
which floods the Church with worldliness as the 
standards of the Church are lowered to conform 
to the ideals of the world. Then, the former class 
make their power known by protest and division. 
The Montanists were the Puritans of their time. 
Some features of their life remind us of early Method- 
ism and some of the Irvingite sect. Tertullian was 
their greatest advocate. The Montanists spread rap- 
idly, but came in conflict with the episcopal organiza- 
tion by their doctrine of prophecy; this proved too 
strong for them. Montanism died out; but so did 
spiritual gifts from the Church. 

The great Church teachers of this period were 
Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Clement of Alexandria, and 
Origen. Irenseus was born in Asia Minor, 
about 130. He was a scholar of Poly carp, 
Bishop of Smyrna, who was a scholar of St. John. 
He came to Rome, perhaps with Polycarp, and was 



126 The Truths that Won. 

teaching there when Poly carp was martyred, 155. He 
went to Lyons in Gaul, and became presbyter of that 
Church. He was absent in Rome, on business for the 
Churches, during the persecution of 177, in which 
Bishop Ponthinus was martyred. He was chosen his 
successor, and died there, probably in 202 ; tradition 
says by martyrdom. Though his teaching was only 
developed in controversy, he was the first systematic 
theologian, from whom all since have learned. He 
was fitted for this work by his philosophic spirit, his 
breadth of view, and his moderation in temperament. 
His central thoughts were three: (1) The unity of 
God in creation, redemption, and dominion. (2) 
Jesus Christ the sole Redeemer through his incarna- 
tion. For redemption he must be both God and 
man. (3) Human nature becomes divine through 
the gift of eternal life through the incarnation, which 
is the central point of history. " Jesus Christ, on 
account of his great love for us, was made what we 
are, that we may become what he is." He sums up 
our humanity in himself. 

Hippolytus was a Roman presbyter, writing in 
Greek, who flourished from 199 to 235. He was a 
scholar of Irenaeus, a learned and voluminous writer. 
He was the friend of the Empress Severa, 
and the opponent of the Roman Bishops 
Zephyrinus and Callistus, whom he accused of Modal- 
ism and laxity in the administration of Church dis- 
cipline. He sympathized with Tertullian, and was 
the friend of Origen. Being banished to the Island of 
Sardinia in the persecution of Maximinus, he died in 
exile, 235. His greatest work which has come down 
to us is the " Refutation of all Heresies." Irenseus 



Founding of Christian Theology. 127 

and Hippolytus, with Tertullian, were the great liter- 
ary opponents of Gnosticism. He shared the theo- 
logical views of Irenaeus. 

Tertullian was born in Carthage, 160. His father 
was a centurion of the proconsul of Africa. He was 
trained in literature, philosophy, history, science, and 
antiquities. He spoke and wrote Greek. 

... , '« 1 1 i , -. • Tertullian. 

He studied law, and probably practiced m 
Rome. His conversion, which occurred in 192, was 
as radical and complete in bringing his whole nature 
into the obedience and service of Christ, as St. Paul's 
before or St. Augustine's after his time. In the midst 
of heathen licentiousness, he seems to have lived a life 
of moral cleanness, to have been the husband of one 
wife, though childless. He was ordained presbyter 
of the Church in Carthage. He was a Montanist in 
principle from 200 to 205. In the latter year he 
identified himself with them on the question of the 
veiling of virgins. He held, with the Montanists, that 
maidens should not appear unveiled in public. The 
year of his death is unknown ; it may have been any- 
where from 223 to 240. 

Tertullian's greatness is in his writings, in which 
he appears as a powerful apologist, an acute theo- 
logian, and an unceasing advocate of a strict Chris- 
tian life and a rigorous Church discipline. The times 
in which he lived doubtless influenced the character 
of his writings. Four years after his conversion, the 
Septimian persecution broke out. During seven years 
it raged ; and in the eight subsequent ones Tertullian 
wrote most of his writings which have come down to 
us, and changed from the Catholic to the Montanistic 
communion. Christianity for him was a warfare in 



i28 The Truths that Won. 

which every Christian should be eager to die for his 
crucified Lord. He embraced it with all the warmth 
and devotion of his passionate nature. It admitted 
of no compromises, but was always in the field facing 
a powerful, unscrupulous, and deadly foe, whose suc- 
cess meant nothing less than the undying damnation 
of the soul. In him there was none of the sweet 
reasonableness of Christianity. His feeling and think- 
ing is the opposite of that of his great contempo- 
rary, Origen, whose experience of persecution was 
personal in the keenest bereavements of his youth 
and the cruel tortures of his age and the martyrdoms 
of his scholars and friends; yet the atmosphere of 
suffering never embittered the great soul of the most 
unwearied of the Christian fathers. But Tertullian 
was of African blood and Roman training, if indeed 
there did not mingle in his veins the blood of the 
races who had fought under Hannibal and conquered 
under Scipio ; so he could contemplate with fierce de- 
light the endless sufferings of cruel persecutors in the 
torments of another world. So he was Roman in his 
thinking. The formal legal side, not the spiritual, 
ruled him. His conception of Christianity is law 
rather than love. The Paraclete Holy Ghost gave a 
new law, through Montanistic prophecy, in whose 
particular rules and commands, definiteness, and ap- 
plication, it was superior to the New Testament. 
This is the fundamental idea of Latin theology ; it is 
always legal. Its philosophy is realistic ; its law 
must be definite, with an authorized expositor to de- 
termine its application. If not the Montanist Para- 
clete, then the bishop or the Pope in the Catholic 
Church, or the Old Testament precepts in the Re- 



Founding of Christian Theology. 129 

formed Church. This view had its right against the 
one-sided philosophical contemplation and spiritual 
and idealistic conceptions of the Greek fathers. It 
had its mission in the formation of a fixed rule of 
faith and firm discipline, which, from Rome, was to sub- 
ject and train the rude and barbarous tribes of Teu- 
tonic heathenism. But it is a partial view, and not 
the full idea of the Christian faith. To the Christ 
who is the truth must be added the Christ who is the 
life ; and to the commands and ordinances of the law 
must be added the love which is the highest fulfill- 
ment of the supreme moral obligation. 

Of this L,atin theology Tertullian was the father. 
He first gave expression to those fundamental ideas 
which have ruled its course — the sense of the sinful- 
ness of sin ; the necessity of satisfaction in redemp- 
tion; the need of grace; and the value of good 
works. He began its doctrine of man and of re- 
demption. He is the father of Cyprian and Augus- 
tine, Jerome and L,eo I, of Calvin, Knox, and the 
English Puritans. His extraordinary power of con- 
cise, clear, definite, and fitting expression of ideas in 
a single word made him the author of distinctive theo- 
logical terms; such as " substance " and " persons " in 
the Trinity, "two natures >J in Christ, "satisfaction" 
in redemption, and " original sin." His charm is 
in his style — terse, pointed, and weighty. Single 
sentences stand out like flashlights from a beacon; 
antitheses are sharpened into paradoxes. Cardinal 
Newman has called him the most powerful writer of 
the early centuries. Add to this the power of an im- 
petuous nature, glowing with love to his L,ord, spurn- 
ing compromises and restraints, which strove to real- 

9 



130 The Truths thai" Won. 

ize in the Church that ascetic ideal of holiness which 
led to the founding of monastic communities within 
the century following his death, and it can be easily 
seen why, in spite of his narrowness and harshness, 
he attracts more readers than almost any other Church 
father. 

Titus Flavius Clemens succeeded, as the head of 
the Catechetical School of Alexandria, its founder, 
Pantsenus. From its founding, about 180, for more 
clement than two hundred years, it was the most 
of renowned school in Christendom. It was 

founded for the instruction in Christianity 
of converts from paganism of philosophic culture. 
It was continued as a school for the training of 
Christian teachers and theologians. Clement was a 
man of wide scholarship and philosophic culture, who 
had traveled from Rome to Athens, and from Anti- 
och to Jerusalem, and back to Alexandria. He was 
converted in middle life. He seems to have been at 
the head of the Alexandrian school from 190 to 202, 
when he fled from the Septimian persecution to Cap- 
padocia; and afterwards he returned to Jerusalem, 
where he is supposed to have died, 220. This school, 
on the basis of the Holy Scriptures, wrought out its 
system, with the aid of the philosophy of Plato and 
his followers, and the allegorical method of Philo. 
For Clement " Christianity is the doctrine of the cre- 
ation, education, and redemption of the human race 
through the L,ogos, whose work culminates in the 
perfect Christian or Gnostic." 

Origen was the profoundest scholar of the early 
Church. He was a learned critic, a diligent exegete, 
one of the ablest of the apologists, the first great theo- 



Founding of Christian Theology. 131 

logian. With a breadth of thought unsurpassed in 
the ages since, he laid the foundation for those defi- 
nitions afterward formulated by the Coun- origen 
cils into the Creeds. Origen was born at His Life - 
Alexandria in 185. His parents were both Christians. 
His father, L,eonidas, was a man of wealth and liberal 
culture, who delighted in directing the steps of his 
son in the paths of secular learning as well as in the 
more congenial walks of sacred literature. The 
quickness of perception and depth of understanding 
shown by the boyish learner in holy themes was the 
joy of his father's heart. When seventeen years of 
age, Alexandria became the chief scene of Christian 
suffering during the Septimian persecutions. Origen's 
father was apprehended, and carried before the magis- 
trate. Origen strove to reach him, that he might 
share his fate; his mother only prevented him by 
concealing his clothes. Finding that he could not 
accomplish his purpose, he wrote a letter to his father, 
exhorting him to take heed and not to change his 
mind " on account of us;" that is, his mother, six 
brothers, and himself. L,eonidas was martyred, his 
property confiscated; and Origen supported the 
widow and dependent orphans by opening a school 
for secular instruction in * philosophy, and received 
aid also from a wealthy lady, who supported a num- 
ber of young men while they pursued their studies. 
During the persecution he was both zealous and dili- 
gent in visiting the martyrs in prison, going with 
them to trial, and kissing them when led away to die. 
He narrowly escaped sharing their fate. At length 
he could not remain in one place, but for safety went 
from house to house. His talents and his zeal led the 



132 The Truths that Won. 

Christians to reopen their school, with Origen as sole 
instructor when but eighteen years of age. He soon 
raised up a notable group of scholars, prelates, and 
martyrs. For this purpose he had the advantage of 
superior instruction as well as of great natural gifts 
and unwearied diligence. Pantsenus and Clement, the 
founders of the Alexandrian school, were his in- 
structors in divinity, while Ammonius Saccas, the 
founder of the Neo-Platonic school of philosophy, 
was his tutor in metaphysics. Though Origen thought 
it best to close his philosophical school when he 
bfecame instructor in theology, he was no bigot. 
Alone of all the men of his time, so far as we know, 
" he also instructed many of the more common people 
in the Biblical studies, asserting frequently that they 
would receive no small advantage from them in 
understanding the Holy Scriptures.' ' 

At this time and during his whole life Origen was 
a strenuous ascetic. While teaching, he sold his 
copies of classical writings, receiving therefor an 
annuity of twelve cents per day, on which he lived 
for many years, refusing the voluntary contributions 
of his friends. He not only denied himself by se- 
vere and rigorous fasts, but after laborious days, cut 
short his sleep. Even the few hours he gave to sleep 
he spent stretched on the bare ground. Fulfilling 
literally the Savior's command not to have " two 
coats, neither shoes," he suffered poverty, cold, and 
all but nakedness. While still a young man, misun- 
derstanding Matt xix. 12, he performed an act of self- 
mutilation, which brought upon him severe ecclesi- 
astical censure, and of which he afterward repented. 
The rashness and error of his youth taught him 



Founding of Christian Theology. 133 

that God's methods of discipline are better than ours. 
In these years Origen devoted himself with un- 
tiring assiduity to study. He says: "When I had 
devoted myself wholly to the Word, and my fame 
went abroad concerning my proficiency, as I was 
sometimes visited by heretics, sometimes by those 
who were conversant with the studies of the Greeks, 
especially those who were pursuing philosophy, I was 
resolved to examine both those opinions of the her- 
etics and those works of the philosophers which pre- 
tend to speak the truth." The heathen Porphyry 
tells us how well he carried out this design: "He 
was always in company with Plato and the works of 
the chief philosophers known to his time, and others 
whose writings are valued in his hands." He acquired 
not only the learning of the Greeks, but also became 
familiar with the Hebrew, in which his mother was 
his fellow-student. 

Origen was no mere scholar and ascetic; he knew 
well the men, the form and fashion of his time. 
About the age of twenty-seven he visited Rome, the 
capital of the world — the representative of its ma- 
terial forces as Alexandria of its intellectual energy. 
He went on two missionary journeys to Arabia, once 
to the heathen, and in 215 to the heretics. At the 
age of forty-three, 228, he visited Palestine. Two 
years later he visited Ephesus, staid some time at 
Athens, and, on his return, stopped at Caesarea, where 
he was ordained presbyter. This act angered Deme- 
trius, Bishop of Alexandria, who excommunicated him. 
Origen went to Caesarea in 231, at the age of forty- 
six, leaving Alexandria forever. The sentence of ex- 
communication was entirely disregarded by the 



134 The Truths that Won. 

bishops of Palestine, Arabia, Phoenicia, and Greece; 
and he was on friendly terms with his two scholars, 
who succeeded Demetrius in the See of Alexandria. 

The fame of Origen was such that he was upon 
terms of intimacy with the greatest and best of the 
age in which he lived. He was called to visit the 
Empress Mammea, the mother of Alexander Severus, 
probably at Antioch in 228. He taught concerning 
the faith in Christ, and we know that his words were 
not unfavorably received. Later the Emperor Philip 
the Arabian assisted him in opening his school at 
Csesarea; and Origen corresponded with his wife, the 
Empress Severa. He had the friendship of the best 
and ablest bishops of his time; but one of them is 
known to have been unfriendly to him, and he from 
envy. His lectures were so highly esteemed that the 
Bishop of Jerusalem and the chiefest of his clergy sat 
as learners at his feet. 

The twenty-three years that he spent at Caesarea 
formed the most fruitful period of his literary life. 
The wealth of Ambrose, whom he had converted 
from the Gnostic heresy, enabled him to keep seven 
amanuenses, who relieved each other as the indefati- 
gable vigor of Origen successively wearied them. 
He also kept seven copyists of his own work, beside 
those skilled in calligraphy, for the parts of his diffi- 
cult work requiring more than ordinary skill. Origen 
wrote the first detailed commentary on the Scriptures. 
He wrote " Contra Celsus," unrivaled among apolo- 
gies. His recension of the Greek version of the Old 
Testament was the greatest work of his life. It con- 
sists of six and sometimes eight or nine columns of 
parallel versions, with critical notes on each. The 



Founding of Christian Theology. 135 

"De Principiis" is the first independent attempt of 
a Christian thinker to form a system of theology. 
His commentaries upon the Scriptures have only 
partially come down to us ; and yet they form in the 
Berlin edition of 1831 sixteen volumes of his works. 
In these writings we have some proof of the untiring 
energy of the man. 

Origen seems to have been nurtured in an atmos- 
phere of martyrdom. The names of eight of his first 
pupils, who suffered death for the gospel's sake, have 
come down to us. When he was just established at 
Caesarea the Maximinian persecution broke out. 
Origen at once published his oration concerning mar- 
tyrdom to comfort and sustain the afflicted Church. 
Eighteen years later the Decian persecution raged. 
Origen was now an old man; but his fame made him 
worthy of the test. He was apprehended, tortured 
with the iron collar, immured in the deepest recesses 
of the prison, stretched for days upon the rack, 
threatened with burning at the stake; but he never 
faltered. The fury of the persecution spent itself. 
Origen was released; but he did not rally. He lin- 
gered a few months, and then, as his father had done, 
received a martyr's crown, 254. 

Some measure of the penetration and suggestive- 
ness of Origen's ideas may be gained from a few ex- 
tracts. We can then see why no theological writer 
can escape dealing with the problems which he 
states or with his method of treatment of them. 

" Now, in our judgment, God can do everything 
which it is possible for him to do without ceasing to 
be God, and good, and wise. But Celsus asserts — 
not comprehending the expression, 'God can do all 



136 The Truths that Won. 

things' — 'that he will not desire to do anything 
wicked, admitting that he has the power, but not the 
Concerning w ^ to ^° ev ^-' We, on the contrary, main- 
God, tain that, as that will which by nature pos- 
Cdsus ra iii sesses the property of sweetening other 
70, p. 492, things through its own inherent sweet- 
ness, can not produce bitterness contrary 
to its own peculiar nature ; nor that whose nature is 
to produce light through its being light can cause 
darkness : so neither is God able to commit wicked- 
ness; for the power of doing evil is contrary to his 
Deity and its omnipotence. " 

"There is, therefore, One whose favor we should 

seek, and to whom we ought to pray that he would 

be gracious to us — the Most High God, whose favor 

is gained by piety and the practice of every 

sion of virtue. And if he would have us to seek 

Angels. tfie favor of others after the Most High 

Contra Cel- ~ - - , * • , 1 , . 

sus, vni, 64, God, let him consider that, as the motion 
p. 664, Q f ^ e shadow follows the motion of the 

A. N. F. 

body which casts it, so in like manner it 
follows that, when we have the favor of God, we have 
also the good-will of all angels and spirits who are 
friends of God. For they know who are worthy of 
the Divine approval, and they are not only well dis- 
posed to them, but they co-operate with them in 
their endeavors to please God; they seek his favor 
on their behalf; with their prayers they join their 
own prayers and intercession for them. We may in- 
deed boldly say that men who aspire after better 
things have, when they pray to God, tens of thou- 
sands of sacred powers on their side." 

" I think, therefore, that all the saints who depart 



Founding of Christian Theology. 137 

from this life will remain in some place situated on 
the earth, which Holy Scripture calls paradise, as in 
some place of instruction, and, so to speak, The Future 
class-room or school of souls, in which they state, 
are to be instructed in all the things which De ^J^ 1 
they had seen on earth, and to receive also p 299, 
some information respecting the things A ' N ' " 
which are to follow in the future, as even when 
in this life they had obtained in some degree in- 
dications of future events, although through a glass 
darkly, — all of which are revealed more clearly and 
distinctly to the saints in their proper time and 
place. If any one, indeed, be pure in heart and holy 
in mind and more practiced in perception, he will, by 
making more rapid progress, quickly ascend to a 
place in the air, and reach the kingdom of heaven 
through those mansions in the various places which 
the Greeks have termed spheres — that is, globes — but 
which Holy Scripture has called heaven ; in each of 
which he will first see clearly what is done there, and, 
in the second place, will discover the reason why 
things are so done; and thus he will, in order, pass 
through all gradations following him who hath passed 
into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, who said, ' I 
will that where I am, these may be also.' " 

" For in the same way also our bodies are to be sup- 
posed to fall into the earth like a grain ; Resurrection . 
and — that germ being implanted in them germ Theory, 
which contains the bodily substance— al- *£S£* 
though the bodies die and become corrupted, p. 249. 
and are scattered abroad, yet, by the word A * N * F * 
of God, that very germ which is always safe in the 
substance of the body raises them from the earth, 



138 The Truths that Won. 

and restores and repairs them, as the power which is 
in the grain of wheat, after its corruption and death, 
repairs and restores the grain into a body having 
stalk and ear. And so also to those who shall de- 
serve to obtain an inheritance in the kingdom of 
heaven, that germ of the body's restoration which we 
have before mentioned, by God's command, restores, 
out of the earthly and animal body, a spiritual one, 
capable of inhabiting the heavens." 

"The sufferings and disparities of life, the con- 
trasts of the law and the gospel simply reveal that 
what we see is but a fragment of a vast system in 
which we can do no more than to trace 

Our Relation . . 

to the tendencies, consequences, signs, and rest 
Scheme of U p n the historic fact of the incarnation. 

Things. T V. , • r , • 

In this respect the entire range of being is 
'as one thought,' answering to the absolutely perfect 
will of God, while 'we that are but part can see but 
part, now this and now that.' " A single sentence 
from Origen was quoted by Bishop Butler as contain- 
ing the germ of his Analogy. 

As a theological teacher, Origen had grave faults, 
which the Church has recognized and condemned. 
Led by the influence of his Platonic conceptions, he 
believed in the pre-existence of human souls in an- 
Defects other stage of being before their birth in 
of Origen. ^\^ s WO rld ; in a succession of worlds previ- 
ous to and after this, so that the history of this world 
is but a moment in the successive world ages ; in a 
purificatory process carried on from world to world, 
until all, even Satan, should be completely redeemed 
from sin. He believed this redemption to depend 
upon the free choice of the will ; yet he never showed 



Founding of Christian Theology. 139 

how that choice should in other worlds, more than in 
this, result in eternal blessedness. In consequence of 
these views, and following the Alexandrian tradition, 
he taught there were two classes of Christians — the 
ordinary believer and the advanced Gnostic, or Chris- 
tian — and two classes of truth for each. 

In spite of these defects, he was thoroughly Chris- 
tian in his thought, the eighth chapter of Romans and 
the fifteenth of First Corinthians being the basis of 
his teaching. In the breadth of his view, the geniality 
of his temper, and the devoutness of his spirit he has 
never been surpassed. He has been the teacher of 
teachers, and attracted the great Christian thinkers 
of every age, with the possible exception of Luther. 
He has been called the Schleiermacher of the early 
Church. In spite of all errors, no other writer of the 
early Church is so fruitful and suggestive. 

Origen's distinctive greatness is as a scholar and 
a teacher. In these combined relations he has never 
been surpassed in the Christian Church. His un- 
wearied diligence laid under tribute and absorbed for 
his use the knowledge of his time. Through his per- 
sonal influence and his writings he has more widely 
influenced Christendom than, any other father of the 
Church. Augustine and Aquinas, L,uther, Calvin, 
and Wesley have more profoundly influenced portions 
of Christendom ; the influence of Origen has touched 
the whole. 

He owes this distinction to his achievements as a 
student and teacher of the Holy Scrip- Biblical 
tures. This field absorbed the greater por- Scholar. 
tion of his iron toil. Jerome knew more Hebrew, 
was a sounder exegete, and gave Christendom the 



140 The Truths that Won. 

best of the ancient .versions of the Holy Scriptures, 
the Latin Vulgate ; but the services of Origen ex- 
ceeded his. Origen was the founder of the science of 
textual criticism, through his great labors on the Sep- 
tuagint and on the New Testament. His Scholia 
are the earliest specimens of marginal explanations. 
His Commentaries were the first continuous exegesis 
of the Scriptures. All commentators, ancient or 
modern, have dug from his mine ; and a very consid- 
erable part of what is valuable in them they owe to 
Origen. Not only did he lay the foundation, but 
eagerly built up the fabric of Biblical interpretation. 
If he used the allegorical method, it was with definite 
limits, while he was an accurate grammarian as well. 
His knowledge and contribution to the interpretation 
of the Bible were absolutely unrivaled. 

His influence as an apologist and theologian was 

scarcely less far-reaching. As a theologian he aimed 

to make central in his thinking the supremacy of God 

our Father and his character as holiness and love; 

Jesus Christ as the Mediator of creation, rev- 

Theologlan. * . , ' . . ' 

elation, and redemption ; in the unity of cre- 
ation, human free will, or the power of moral determi- 
nation, as a decisive element in the fulfillment of the 
Divine counsel. He also emphasized the teaching that 
Christ died for all men. He aimed to show the 
agreement of the best human thinking with the Holy 
Scriptures, and that they are consistent with all real 
knowledge and with the highest reason. To this end 
he used Plato's philosophy, his archetypal ideas, and 
the allegoric method. He won to Christianity the 
educated classes of the Greek world, and made for- 
ever, as against all heretics, the Old Testament a 



Founding of Christian Theology. 141 

part of the Christian Scriptures. He struck the 
grand outlines of an all-embracing Christian the- 
ology, which, however they may have been rectified, 
have never been surpassed. 

To these results of his thinking and his labors 
must be added his abilities and disposition as a man 
and his character as a Christian, which made him so 
inspiring as a teacher and so pure as an example. 
To his sympathy with all human learning he added 
an equal sympathy with all human souls. 

^ . \ , . , , , , 1 Character. 

This moved him to teach the rude and the 
ignorant as well as those trained in the schools, made 
him a most winning and successful controversialist, 
and gave him, as a teacher of teachers, friends of the 
great and noble spirits of all times. Though an as- 
cetic, he was not of the legal spirit. His mastery of 
himself and harmony with his highest convictions 
gave an ease and sweetness of spirit amid unfavorable 
or frightful surroundings, which, like his tireless 
labors, has never been excelled in all the ages since. 



Chapter III. 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY— CREED OF 
NIOEA. 

After the conflict with the attempts to absorb 
the Christian religion in a religious philosophy had 
failed, men began to occupy themselves with the intel- 
lectual representations of the relations of the three 
Divine persons acknowledged in Christian baptism, 
especially that of the Son to the Father, and between 
the two natures in the person of our Lord. The 
MonarchJan- Greek disposition, intellect, and culture 

ism. seemed to be peculiarly fitted for and to 
delight in this task. Its difficulty may be conceived 
when we reflect that, after all the efforts of all the ablest 
thinkers during the centuries of the history of our 
race, we yet know so little of the relations of body, 
mind, and spirit in ourselves. If these great Greek 
thinkers and theologians did not attain to absolute 
certainty in their conclusions, and answer all ques- 
tions to the satisfaction of thoughtful minds for all 
ages, they did present that solution of these problems 
which at that time demanded authoritative answer 
from the Church, and which was the wisest then 
offered, and has commanded general assent in the 
Church in all ages since. It is easy to say that the 
view of Athanasius or L,eo is defective ; yet no man 
familiar with the question would replace them with 
the views of Arius or Eusebius, of Nestorius or Eu- 
tyches ; and the choice had to be made from among 
142 



The Doctrine of the Trinity. 143 

them. In the consideration of these questions, we 
are to remember that the Protestant Christian is 
bound, as to his faith and conscience, only by the 
Holy Scriptures, which contain all that is necessary 
to salvation both for our faith and practice, and that 
these creeds have for us only the authority of their 
truth. We are also to remember that they represent 
to us the highest result of human thinking and the 
best expression of the mind of the Church on the 
most difficult problems of the Christian faith. These 
problems could not be ignored; some answer must 
be given ; the future of the Church depended upon 
the answer indorsed by her authority. It is of no 
inconsiderable consequence that the great branches 
of the Christian faith, the Greek, Roman Catholic, 
and Protestant Churches, rest upon these great com- 
mon foundations of theological thinking. 

Three views were presented and discussed before 
the adoption of that conception of the Divinity of our 
Lord which prevailed at Nicsea. These were Dyna- 
mistic Monarchianism, Modalistic Monarch- Dynamistic 
ianism, and Subordinationism. Dynamistic Monarchian- 
Monarchianism*-— from dynamis (power) and ism ' 
moiiarchy (sole rule of one) — taught that the Divine in 
Christ was only a power, and not a nature. Christ 
had not a pre-existing spiritual being, but one after 
his moral condition — a man exalted to Divine dignity. 
It exalted the human moral development of Christ. 
This view was first contended for by a layman, The- 
odotus, a leather-worker from Byzantium. His work 
belongs to a former period, but is given here for con- 
nected presentation. He came to Rome about 185, 
and taught that Christ was a mere man. He was ex- 



144 The Truths thai Won. 

communicated by Bishop Victor, 192-202. The lead- 
ing representative of these opinions was Paul of Sa- 
mosata, Bishop and Viceroy of Antioch under Queen 
Zenobia of Palmyra. He was excommunicated, 269; 
deposed, the sentence being then carried into execu- 
tion, in 273. The Unitarians are the modern represent- 
atives of this party; they were never numerous in the 
Church. 

Respecting these views, many went to the other 
extreme, and were called Modalistic Monarchians, 

Modaiistic because they made Christ only a mode of 
Monarchian- being the Father. They were also called 
Patripassians ; that is, the Father suffers 
because they said " God was crucified,'' " God died," 
etc. Its most prominent advocate was Sabellius, of 
Iyibya, who came to Rome, and was at first favored, 
but afterward excommunicated, by Bishop Callistus, 
218-223. He taught that, for creation, God is Father; 
for redemption, he is Redeemer; for the Church, he 
is the Holy Ghost. Hence, the Trinity is one of 
equality and economy. This was a large and influ- 
ential party in the Church. The Roman bishops for 
thirty years — Victor, Zephyrinus, and Callistus — were 
Modalistic Monarchians. 

There were those who believed that Christ was 
Divine, but that his independent personal being must 

subordina- be emphasized in opposition to the follow- 
tionism. ers of Sabellius. They held the Son to be 
subordinate to the Father. They taught that Christ, 
the IyOgos, had a personal substance and pre-exist- 
ence ; that he belongs to the inward necessity of the 
being of the Father. It is false to say there was a 
time when he was not. Christ was truly God, but 



The Doctrine of the Trinity. 145 

inferior in dignity. The word Logos, applied to 
Christ, is found in St. John's Gospel. It was so used 
by Justin Martyr, in 135; Theophilus of Antioch, 
175; and Athenagoras, 175-185. The term is used 
to express the thought that the Mediator of creation 
and redemption is the same. Dionysius of Alexan- 
dria taught that Christ is the creature of the Father. 
Hippolytus and Tertullian, though they combated 
modalism, held subordination views. Origen ad- 
vanced to the statement of the eternal generation of 
the Son, though he held that he was inferior in per- 
son and office. 

In the third period (254-381), the Church came to 
a definite and authoritative decision in regard to the 
Divinity of our Lord. She advanced be- Anus and 
yond all Monarchianism and Subordina- "is Doctrine, 
tionism to the creeds of Nicaea and Constantinople. 
The occasion of taking this step was the teaching of 
the presbyter, Arius. The one great man by whom 
it was carried through was Athanasius. Both of these 
men were connected with the Church in Alexandria. 
Arius was a scholar, as was Eusebius of Nicomedia, 
and Lucian of Antioch. Lucian was a thorough Bib- 
lical scholar, but was influenced by the views of Paul 
of Samosata, whose deposition he refused to sanction. 
Arius, thus trained and influenced, came to Alexan- 
dria, where he was ordained presbyter, 311. He was 
an eloquent preacher, w r ith a subtle mind. He was 
tall, of agreeable address, and lived a pure life. He 
stated his view, that " there was a time when the 
Lord was not," in 319, and was condemned by a coun- 
cil of Egyptian bishops in 321. Christianity had now 
come to the throne of the world; and beyond all 

10 



146 The Truths that Won. 

questions of politics, of civil and social life, these 
theological distinctions became the theme of discus- 
sion in the street and in the market-place. The gist 
of the doctrine of Arius was: " The Father is Father; 
the Son is Son ; therefore, the Father must have ex- 
isted before the Son; therefore, once the Son was 
not; therefore, he was made, like all creatures, of a 
substance which had not previously existed. " These 
opinions were rejected by the Council of Nicsea, 325. 
After long debate, the 318 bishops came to the decis- 
ion, with only two dissenting voices, that the Son 
was of the same substance with the Father, and hence 
of equal co-eternity. Arius was condemned and ban- 
ished. Eleven years later he was recalled, and died 
in 336, as he was about to be restored to his former 
position in the Church. 

The man most influential in securing the condem- 
nation of Arius at Nicaea — the lifelong and victorious 
Athanasius. °PP onent of his doctrines — was Athanasius, 
His at that time a young deacon attached to 
Teaching. Alexanderj the Bishop of Alexandria. Ath- 
anasius argued in favor of the eternal generation of 
the Son and his consubstantiality (Homoousia) with 
the Father — that is, his perfect Divinity as Son of 
God — on the following grounds: The Father must 
always have been Father, or he could not be the ab- 
solute and unchanging God. The Son is not Divine 
if he is not Son by nature, but only by God's grace. 
The unity of man with God falls to the ground if 
the Mediator of their unity is only a creature, and 
not the absolute God. " If Christ/' he said, " differed 
from other creatures simply as being the only creature 
immediately produced by God, then he could not 



The Doctrine of the Trinity, 147 

bring the creature into fellowship with God, since we 
must be constrained to think of something still inter- 
mediate between him as a creature and the Divine 
essence, which differed from him — something whereby 
he might stand in communion with God ; and this in- 
termediate being would be precisely the Son of God 
in the proper sense. In analyzing the conception of 
God communicated to the creature, it would be neces- 
sary to arrive, at least, at the conception of that 
which requires nothing intermediate in order to com- 
munion with God — which does not participate in 
Gdd's essence as something foreign to itself, but which 
is itself the self-communicating essence of God. This 
is the only Son of God — the being who can be so 
called in the proper sense. The expressions, Son of 
God and Divine generation, are of a symbolic nature, 
and denote simply the communication of the Divine 
essence. It is only on the supposition that Christ is, 
in this sense alone, the proper Son of God, that he 
can make rational creatures children of God. It is 
the Logos who imparts himself to them through 
whom they live in God — the Son of God within them, 
through fellowship with whom they become them- 
selves children of God." 

Professor Moller puts it concisely thus: " Nothing 
less than the Eternal Son of God, through his incar- 
nation, could accomplish the redemption of mankind. 
Christ has renewed the whole man through his union 
with him. The fundamental thought of Athanasius 
is that, through a real union of Divinity with human 
nature, salvation is accomplished, in which the Divine 
life makes possible to extend the natural connection 
with the whole of humanity— to overcome death and 



148 The Truths that Won. 

to raise to immortality. The incarnation is necessary 
through the need of revelation and of redemption. The 
Divine life comes into the life of man objectively 
through the Holy Ghost, and subjectively through 
faith ; that is, the reception of the I^ord." 

The incarnation was the center of the teaching of , 
Origen, but as a means of relating the Father to the 
creation of the race and the world, and re- 

His Life. . . A . 

vealmg him to man. Athanasius advanced 
to the incarnation as the essential guarantee of re- 
demption — its central purpose. The work of Atha- 
nasius in defense of this doctrine only began with 
the definition of the Nicaean Council. Athanasius 
was born at Alexandria about 296. He was trained 
in Homer, Plato, and logic. He knew thoroughly 
paganism and Judaism. His chief study was Chris- 
tian theology. His treatises, "Against the Gentiles " 
and " On the Incarnation/ ' are remarkable theolog- 
ical essays, especially for a man not more than 
twenty-two years of age. He was twenty-nine at the 
Council of Nicsea, and elected Bishop of Alexandria — 
a position second only to that of Rome— the succeed- 
ing year, 326. In November, 330, the Emperor Con- 
stantine commanded him to receive Arius back into 
the Church. From this time his conflicts ceased only 
with his life. " He was small in stature," says Greg- 
ory Nazianzen ; "but his face was radiant with intelli- 
gence ; accessible to all ; slow to anger ; quick in sym- 
pathy, pleasant in conversation, and still more pleas- 
ant in temper; effective alike in discourse and in 
action; assiduous in devotions; helpful to Christians 
of every class and age." He wrought in his diocese 
with exemplary fidelity. He ruled as a thorough- 



The Doctrine of the Trinity. 149 

going and successful bishop ; but refused to receive 
Arius into communion with the Church in 331. He 
was summoned to a Council at Csesarea in 334, charged 
with having put a Milesian bishop (Arsenius) to death. 
The charge was renewed at a Synod at Tyre in 335, 
where his enemies showed in a box an arm of the 
murdered Arsenius. " Did any of you know Arse- 
nius?" calmly asked Athanasius. Many voices an- 
swered in the affirmative. A hooded figure was led 
into the midst of the assembly, the covering was re- 
moved, and Arsenius stood before them. Command- 
ing him to hold out his hands, — " Did any of you 
know of Arsenius having three hands?" said Athana- 
sius. His enemies could only raise cries of magic to 
cover their confusion ; nevertheless, they condemned 
him, and deposed him from his See. Athanasius ap- 
pealed to the Emperor Constantine. He appeared in 
person before him in the public street as he was re- 
turning on horseback to his palace, and besought his 
justice. The emperor ordered an investigation. The 
Arian bishops changed the charge to one of threat- 
ening to detain the grain-ships bound for Constanti- 
nople, and the emperor's jealousy being aroused, he 
was banished to Treves, February, 336. He remained 
there two years and a half. Arius died the same 
year, and Constantine the Great in May, 337. He 
was recalled soon after the death of the latter, but 
did not arrive at Alexandria until November, 338. 
Constantius, the successor of the first Christian em- 
peror, was an able ruler, and sought to control the 
policy of the Church as his fathers had done. He 
was a zealous Arian. A Synod at Antioch, under the 
control of the Eusebian party, in 340, deposed Atha- 



150 The Truths that Won. 

nasius, and elected Gregory of Cappadocia, an Arian, 
in his stead. Athanasius appealed to Julius, Bishop 
of Rome, and sailed for Rome at Easter, 340. An- 
other Arian Council at Antioch, 341, renewed the 
condemnation of Athanasius. In the meanwhile, Ju- 
lius had called a Council at Rome, which met in Oc- 
tober or November, 341. It pronounced Athanasius 
innocent. He spent the next two years at Rome and 
Milan. He was present at the end of the year 343, 
with one hundred and seventy bishops, at the Council 
of Sardica, where he was again acquitted. Gregory, 
the Arian Bishop of Alexandria, died in February, 
345. In 346, Athanasius visited Treves, Adrianople, 
Antioch, and Jerusalem, and returned, after a six years' 
exile, to Alexandria, October 21, 346. More than four 
hundred bishops, including those of Britain, were in 
communion with him. After the death of his brother 
Constans in 350, and the usurper Magnentius in 353, 
Constantius was the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. 
He hated Athanasius with a bitter personal hatred. 
For ten years Athanasius held his ground at Alexan- 
dria, though condemned by Councils at Aries in 353, 
and Milan in 355. " Finally, on the 8th of February, 
356, while he was engaged in service in the Church 
of St. Theonas, a band of armed men burst into the 
sacred building. Here, for a time, he maintained his 
composure, and desired the deacon to read the psalm 
and the people to respond, • For his mercy endureth 
forever,' as the soldiers rushed forward with fierce 
shouts toward the altar. He at length made his es- 
cape in the crowd, and withdrew to the solitudes of 
Upper Egypt." (Apology for His Flight, 24.) George 
01 Cappadocia, a bitter Arian, was sent to supersede 



The Doctrine of the Trinity. 151 

him in Lent, 357. Athanasius spent the next six 
years in exile among the monks of the Egyptian des- 
ert. He admired and promoted monasticism. The 
monks alone protected him against imperial despot- 
ism. The emperor compelled his old friend, the aged 
Hosius of Cordova, to pronounce against him in 357, 
and L,iberius, Bishop of Rome, in 358, as did the 
Arian Councils, Ariminum in 359, and Seleucia in 
360. Constantius died November 4, 361. The apos- 
tate Julian succeeded him. George of Cappadocia 
was murdered by the pagan party, December 24, 361. 
Athanasius was recalled by Julian, and returned to 
Alexandria, February 22, 362. Athanasius was now 
the greatest person in the Roman world — too eminent 
as a Christian and a bishop to be left in peace by the 
pagan Julian. At his command he went into his 
fourth exile, October 23, 362. On leaving, he said : 
" Be of good heart ; it is but a cloud ; it will soon 
pass." In a few months (June 26, 363), Julian 
closed his career. In July the undaunted bishop 
was at Alexandria. In September he sailed for An- 
tioch, to meet the Emperor Jovian. He returned to 
Alexandria, February, 364. The same year Jovian 
died, and was succeeded by. Valens, a bitter Arian. 
Athanasius was banished for the last time, October 5, 
365. He is said to have lived for many months in his 
father's tomb, near Alexandria. He returned, Febru- 
ary 1, 366, and was undisturbed in his See until his 
death, May 2, 373, at the age of seventy-seven. 

He had been Bishop of Alexandria forty-seven 
years. Five times banished by four em- his 
perors, he had spent twenty years in exile. Character. 
We can but join in the words of Hooker : " The whole 



152 The Truths that Won. 

world against Athanasius, and Athanasius against it; 
half a hundred years spent in doubtful trial, which 
of the two in the end should prevail — the side which 
had all, or else the part which had no friends but 
God and death — the one a defender of his innocency, 
the other a finisher of all his troubles?" The great- 
ness of Athanasius rests upon his unshaken adhe- 
rence to his conception of the Divinity of Christ. 
Deeply religious; sensitive yet persistent; firm, dis- 
creet, and affectionate ; moderate when triumphant, — 
if he sometimes felt and was influenced by the stress 
of controversy, his life and its results are among the 
greatest in Christian history. 

Men like Origen and Athanasius, like Basil and 
the two Gregories, declared, defended, and expounded 
truth amid the warring sects and parties of the Church ; 
but her Councils defined the faith in clear, precise, 
and unmistakable terms, and yet brief enough to be- 
come the easily-remembered Confession of the com- 
mon people, especially as they became a part of the 
highly-developed liturgy of the Church. 

The (Ecumenical Councils of the first six centu- 
ries are those of Nicaea, 325; I Constantinople, 381; 
CEcumenicai Ephesus, 43 1 ; Chalcedon, 451; II Con- 
Counciis. stantinople, 553. Three of these — Nicaea, 
I Constantinople, and Chalcedon— formulated creeds 
for the use of the Church and the defense of the 
faith. These creeds are remarkable as being expan- 
sions or explications of the Apostles' Creed. They 
are also remarkable for not going beyond the ques- 
tions then pressing for decision ; and in brevity con- 
trast strongly with the later Creeds, like the Thirty- 
nine Articles, or the Augsburg and Westminster 



The Doctrine of the Trinity. 153 

>. 
Confessions. The Councils were called by the em- 
peror, who summoned to them all Christian bishops. 
These alone, with the emperor or his representative, 
had voice or vote. Men like Arius or Athanasius 
could be present as the advisers of the bishops. The 
Councils not only decided points of doctrine, but de- 
termined questions of discipline, usage, authority, 
and jurisdiction. The conclusions of the Councils 
on the latter were embodied in articles called can- 
ons, or rules. 

The Council of Nicaea, the greatest and most im- 
portant of these assemblies, consisted of three hun- 
dred and eighteen bishops. Hosius of Cor- 

Nicsea. 

dova, Eusebius of Caesarea, and Eusebius 
of Nicomedia were the ablest and most influential of 
its prelates. Both Arius and Athanasius were in at- 
tendance. The Council gave the definition of the 
Son to the Father, which centered in the word ho- 
moousios — of the same substance as the Father. 

The Nicaean Creed is as follows : 

" We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, 
maker of all things, visible and invisible; and in one 
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begot- Nicsean 
ten of the Father [the only begotten — that Creed - 
is, of the essence of the Father — God of God], Light 
of light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, 
being of one substance with the Father ; by whom 
all things were made [both in heaven and in earth] ; 
who, for us men and for our salvation, came down 
and was incarnate, and was made man. He suffered, 
and the Vhird day he rose again, ascended into heaven; 
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the 
dead. And in the Holy Ghost. 



154 The Truths that Won. 

[" But those who say, ' There was a time when he 
was not;' and ' He was not before he was made;' and 
* He was made out of nothing;' or ' He is of another 
substance' or 'essence;' or 'The Son of God is cre- 
ated,' or 'changeable,' or 'alterable' — they are con- 
demned by the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church."] 

The Emperor Constantine confirmed the decrees 
of the Council; but, influenced by Eusebius of Nico- 
media, he leaned more and more to the Arian side. 
Constantius was a Christian from personal convic- 
tion, but also a thorough Arian. By him the ortho- 
dox were oppressed and banished. Julian the Apos- 
tate despised both parties alike. Jovian favored the 
Creed of Nicaea, but Valens was its bitter opponent. 
Upon his death, Theodosius came to the throne — a 
great ruler, a Nicaean Christian, and the friend of 
Ambrose. 

In the East, and among the majority of the theo- 
logically-trained bishops, the Creed of Nicaea was not 
received with favor. They were conservatives, and 
could not advance beyond the teachings of Origen, 
while they disliked the terms of the Creed as savor- 
ing of Sabellianism. Still less were they inclined to 
Arianism. That they were finally won to a convinced 
and reasoned support of the Creed of Nicaea was due 
to the writings and influence of three men, called the 
great Cappadocians. Two of them — Basil and Greg- 
ory of Nyssa — were brothers; while the third — Greg- 
ory of Nazianzen — was their lifelong friend. All 
three were bishops — Basil of Caesarea in Cappadocia, 
Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Sasima, and, for a 
short time, Patriarch of Constantinople. 

Basil, 330-390, was a leader and ruler of men, 



The Doctrine of the Trinity. 155 

founder of flourishing Church institutions, and author 
of the first great rule of the monastic life. Gregory 
Nazianzen. preacher and poet, was a volumi- The Three 
nous writer; born, 325; Bishop of Sasima, Cappadocians, 
370 ; Archbishop of Constantinople for a few months 
in 381 ; died, 392. Gregory of Nyssa was born 335, 
and became Bishop of Nyssa in 371; attended the 
Council of Constantinople, 381. He died 395. He 
was the theologian of the age. His " Great Cate- 
chism " was the most significant dogmatic work of 
the fourth century. Through the influence of these 
men and their teacher, Apollinaris of Laodicea, the 
one hundred and eighty-six bishops, most of whom 
were from the East, at the first Council of Constanti- 
nople, 381, called by Theodosius, accepted the Nicaean 
teaching. They further settled the Trinitarian doc- 
trine by more precisely defining the relation of the 
Father and the Son, and added an article concerning 
the Holy Ghost. This article condemned the doctrine 
of Macedonius, who taught that the Holy Spirit is a 
Divine energy diffused throughout the universe, but 
not a distinct person in the Trinity. 

The Creed of Constantinople is as follows : 
" We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, 
maker of heaven and earth, and of all things, visible 
and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Creedof 
Christ, the only begotten Son of God, be- Constanti- 
gotten of the Father before all worlds' nople ' 
aeons; Light of light, very God of very God; begotten, 
not made, being of one substance with the Father ; 
by whom all things were made ; who, for us men and 
for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was 
incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and 



156 The Truths that Won. 

was made man. He was crucified for us under Pon- 
tius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried, and the third 
day he rose again, according to the Scriptures, and 
ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of 
the Father; from thence he shall come again with 
glory, to judge the quick and the dead ; whose king- 
dom shall have no end. And in the Holy Ghost, the 
Lord and giver of life, who proceedeth from the 
Father, and who, with the Father and the Son to- 
gether, is worshiped and glorified ; who spake by the 
prophets. In one Holy Catholic and Apostolic 
Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remis- 
sion of sins ; we look for the resurrection of the dead, 
and the life of the world to come. Amen." 

Sometimes we wonder if the lost causes, after all, 
should not secure our suffrage. Some evil things 
succeed. This is particularly the case if we do not 
fully enter into or understand the distinctions which 
divided the Church into parties. It may reassure us 
to have so eminent a scholar and fair a judge as Pro- 
fessor Harnack declare : " The victory of the Arian 
doctrine, in all probability, meant the ruin of Christen- 
dom. The Arian Christology is the most inwardly 
empty and dogmatically worthless of all that meet us 
in the history of doctrine. But it had its mission as 
a bridge between the half-heathen in the Church and 
monotheism, and in the early training of the Teutonic 
races." 



Chapter IV. 

DOCTRINE OF THE PERSON OF CHRIST— CREED OF 
CHALCEDON. 381-451. 

These seventy years were those of the overthrow 
and dissolution of the Roman Empire and society in 
the West, and, for more than fifty years, of political 
weakness in the East. During these years Rome 
was taken by the Goths, North Africa conquered by 
the Vandals under Genseric, Gaul and Spain con- 
quered by the Franks and Burgundians, while all 
Middle Europe was ravaged by the Mongol savage 
Attila. 

On the other hand, this was the golden age of 
Christian theology. The greatest galaxy of Christian 
writers in the early Church wrought at this time. 
While the old order changed and the old The Men of 
world died, Christian thought showed a the Period, 
vigor seldom since surpassed. The greatest men of 
the former period made this illustrious with their 
closing labors. Such were the three great Cappado- 
cians — Basil; the two Gregories and their teacher, 
Apollinaris ; with Didymus the Blind, the great teacher 
of the Catechetical School of Alexandria ; and Diodo- 
rus, the founder of the great Exegetical School of 
Antioch. But groups of the ablest Christian teachers 
came to the ripeness of their powers and the fullness 
of their labors in these seventy years. Among them 
were the most famous names of the Christian Church. 
In the West we find the great Latin fathers, Ambrose, 

i57 



158 The Truths that Won. 

Jerome, and Augustine; writers like Vincent of L,erins, 
Sulpicius Severus, and Paulinus of Nola ; and Rome's 
ablest bishops, like Innocent and Leo. In the East, 
centering about Antioch, Theodore of Mopsuestia, 
Chrysostom, Theodoret, the most eloquent preachers 
and the ablest exegetes of the early Church ; and prel- 
ates like Nestorius and Ibas of Edessa. With Alex- 
andria as a center, were Isidore of Pelusium and 
Synesius; Epiphanius, the great detector and pre- 
server of heresy ; and the most powerful prelates of 
the East, its patriarchs, Theophilus, Cyril, and Dios- 
curus. 

The first forty years of this period was an interval 
of peace between two great controversies — the Trini- 
tarian, under Athanasius, and the Christological, con- 
nected with the names of Nestorius and 

Nestorius. . 

Eutyches. Men began to think how the 
Son of God and the Son of man are united in Christ. 
The controversy was started by Nestorius, a native of 
Syria, and trained in the School of Antioch, who, in 
428, had been made Patriarch of Constantinople. 
Nestorius was a sincere and pious Christian, but with 
a limited intellectual horizon, and lacking in tact and 
political foresight. He taught: " The God-Eogos-the- 
Divine lived in Jesus as in a temple. God is not born, 
but man has been born, and suffered ; hence Mary can 
not be called the mother of God. Before the incarna- 
tion there was only one nature — the Divine — in Christ ; 
afterward there were two, the Divine and human. " 
Nestorius was in favor with the emperor. At his re- 
quest, by imperial command, a General or (Ecumen- 
ical Council was called at Ephesus at Pentecost, 431. 
Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, 412-444, was an 



Doctrine of the Person of Christ. 159 

able theologian, a powerful, politic, and unscrupulous 
ruler of the Church. He was jealous of Nestorius 
because the Patriarch of Constantinople cyrii of 
was taken from Antioch instead of Alex- Alexandria. 
andria. Cyril condemned his teaching, and accused 
him of heresy. He won to his side Coelestine, Bishop 
of Rome. Menon, Bishop of Ephesus, the seat of 
the Council, was his friend. Cyril came from Alex- 
andria to Ephesus with a fleet and fifty bishops. 
About two hundred bishops were present. The 
bishops from Syria, the supporters of Nestorius, had 
not arrived, nor the legates from Rome, when the 
Council began its sessions. The imperial commissa- 
ries protested against such precipitate action. Never- 
theless, through the influence of Menon and the 
treachery of John, Patriarch of Antioch, the plans of 
Cyril were carried out; and these proceedings were 
afterward sanctioned by the Roman legates. The 
Council framed no new Creed, but declared that the 
Creed of Nicaea should be interpreted in the sense of 
the Alexandrians. The Council condemned and de- 
posed Nestorius. The Emperor Theodosius II was 
displeased with the Council, and refused to sanction 
its acts. He exiled both Nestorius and Cyril. The 
sentence was never taken from Nestorius, who wan- 
dered into Arabia and Upper Egypt, and died in ban- 
ishment, probably about 440. Cyril began negotiations 
with the court for his restoration, In 433, upon sign- 
ing a creed drawn up by Theodoret, he was restored to 
his See and to favor with the emperor, and obtained 
the recognition of the acts of the Council of Ephesus. 
Alexandria now became the supreme power in the 
Eastern Church. Cyril died in 444. His successor, 



160 The Truths thai Won. 

Dioscurus, was passionate and violent, where he had 
been prudent and strong. 

Eutyches, the aged Archimandrite, or head, of a 

monastery near Constantinople in 448, was accused of 

heresy by Eusebius of Dorylaeum. In sermons, 

Eutyches had taught, "My God Jesus 

Eutyches. __ .. ■ M . „. «, 

Christ is not like me m nature. He has 
not taken the human body, but a body like the 
human ; that is, not an individual body, but a body 
which is a compendium of human nature. He had 
not a personal humanity. The human to the Divine 
in Christ is like a drop of water in the ocean. Be- 
fore the incarnation there were two natures, the hu- 
man and the Divine in Christ; since, but one, the Di- 
vine.' ' The accusation was tried before Flavian, Pa- 
triarch of Constantinople. Eutyches was condemned; 
but being favored by the empress, he appealed to a 
General Council. 

Dioscurus, who was all-powerful with the em- 
peror, urged the calling of such an assembly. He 
sought three things — the adoption of the view of the 
Alexandrian party; the deposition of all bishops who 
had written against the one nature in Christ ; and the 
depression in rank of the Bishop of Rome, who had 
opposed him, beneath the Eastern patriarchs. Dios- 
curus opened the assembly, 135 bishops being present, 
in August, 449, at Ephesus. Eutyches was restored 
without even according a hearing to his accuser. 
Flavian, Eusebius, and a long list of bishops were de- 
posed, and Rome was placed below the Oriental patri- 
archs. When one or two bishops endeavored to op- 
pose these proceedings, Dioscurus called soldiers and 
monks into the assembly. " * Cut those in two who 



Doctrine of the Person of Christ. 161 

speak of two natures,' was the cry." Flavian was 
grossly ill used, taken into exile, and di^d in a few 
days while on the journey. The Roman legates es- 
caped by flight. This Council was called the Robber 
Synod, from these violent proceedings, and its acts 
annulled. 

In 450, Theodosius II died, and was succeeded by 
his sister, Pulcheria, who raised her husband, the 
Senator Marcian, an able ruler, to the throne. In 
order to put an end to these destructive council of 
divisions, and to curb the ambition and cnaicedon. 
usurpation of the Patriarch of Alexandria, Marcian 
summoned the fourth and greatest (Ecumenical Coun- 
cil to meet in September, 451, at Chalcedon. Six 
hundred and thirty Eastern bishops and four legates 
from Leo I of Rome were present. The devastations 
of Attila prevented the attendance of Western 
bishops. Rome, which had been in alliance with 
Alexandria for one hundred years, now. came to a 
union with the emperor against the pride and vio- 
lence of Dioscurus, the head of the Church State of 
Alexandria. Leo, the Bishop of Rome, was then the 
greatest man living. At the Council the Alexandrian 
watchword was, " Out of two natures, one Christ ;" 
that of Antioch, " In two natures, one Christ;" the 
decision of the Council, " Two natures in one per- 
son." The Council reinstated the bishops deposed at 
Ephesus. Dioscurus was deposed, not for heresy, 
but for violence and irregularity. The orthodoxy of 
both Cyril and Theodoret was affirmed. The Creed 
adopted was mainly derived from Leo's letter to Fla- 
vian in 449. Its twenty-eighth canon gave equal 
dignity to the See of Constantinople with that of 

11 



1 62 The Truths that Won. 

Rome. Canon Gore admirably sums up the issues 
and value of this controversy : 

" Another danger threatened the Church. Nes- 
torius denied that the babe on Mary's knees was God. 
The new error necessitated a new dogma. The Chris- 
tian knew that, in worshiping Christ, God and man, 
he was worshiping, not two persons, but one, and that 
one the Eternal Son, who was born of Mary. He, 
then, that denied that Mary's child was God, denied 
either that it was indeed God who had taken flesh, 
or that it was indeed flesh that he had taken. Christ 
was one person, and that person Divine. For this 
truth Eutyches had fought : Christ is one ; he is Di- 
vine. But having but one idea, and that to oppose Nes- 
torianism, he lost, in the assertion of the unity and 
Divinity of Christ's person, all sense of the counter 
truth which alone gives reality to the incarnation, the 
truth of his humanity. 

" Eutyches refused to say that the human nature 
remained in the incarnation. He shrank from calling 
Christ 'of one substance' with us men. In some sort of 
way he left us to suppose that the human nature was 
absorbed into and lost in the Divinity. The Church's 
instinct was sound when it condemned in Eutyches 
the merging or annihilation of the human nature. 
The whole doctrine of our salvation depends on 
Christ being of one substance with us. He did not 
merely touch our nature as from the outside, and, by 
touching, transmit it into something else ; he took it 
in all its parts — body, soul, and spirit — with all its 
feelings, wants, instincts, powers, temptations, weak- 
nesses ; sin only excepted. He took it all ; he is it, 



Doctrine of the Person of Christ. 163 

and he is it forever. The whole doctrine of the sec- 
ond Adam centers in this. No assuming of the ap- 
pearance of man, of the clothing of mere human 
flesh, will avail anything ; Christ is the second Adam, 
the new man, the first parent of a restored human 
nature. The whole value of the atoning sacrifice de- 
pends on this, that it was Man who offered himself in 
that human nature, that in us had sinned. The whole 
meaning of the ascension is lost if it is not our human 
nature which is exalted to God's right hand. ,, 
The following is the Creed of Chalcedon : 
"We, then, following the holy fathers, all with 
one consent, teach men to confess one and the same 
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in God- 
head, and also perfect in manhood; truly creed of 
God and truly man, of a reasonable [ra- chalcedon. 
tional] soul and body; consubstantial [co-essential] 
with the Father according to the Godhead, and con- 
substantial with us according to the manhood ; in all 
things like unto us, without sin ; begotten before all 
ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in 
these latter days for us and for our salvation ; born of 
the Virgin Mary, the mother of God, according to 
the manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, 
Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, 
inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; 
the distinction of natures being by no means taken 
away by the union, but rather the property of each 
nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person 
and one Substance; not parted or divided into two 
persons, but one and the same Son, and Only-begot- 
ten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; as the 
prophets from the beginning have declared concern- 



164 The Truths that Won. 

ing him, and the Lord Jesus Christ himself has taught 
us, and the Creed of the holy fathers has handed 
down to us." 

The definition of the doctrine concerning the per- 
son of Christ was completed at the third Council of 
Constantinople in 68 1, where the relation of the 
human and Divine wills is clearly stated. Henceforth 
the doctrine of the Church concerning our L,ord is 
that he is of one substance with the Father, of two 
natures in one person, with two wills. 

The Council of Chalcedon inflicted irreparable 
injury upon the Eastern Empire. The Roman defi- 
nition was unpopular. Riots and long continued dis- 
Resuits of turbances followed the conclusion of the 
the council Council in Palestine and Egypt. It re- 

of Chalcedon. gulted j n tfae ^ Qf the CoptiCj Syr i ac> 

and Armenian Churches from the communion of the 
Greek Church. It weakened the allegiance of these 
populations to the Imperial Government. The great 
Sees of Antioch and Alexandria and their influence 
fell away from the Church and Government at Con- 
stantinople. Instead of a united Christianity in the 
East, there was formed a Coptic Church in Egypt; 
the Syrians became Monophysites through the un- 
wearied labors of Jacob Baradeus from after 541 ; and 
hence they were called Jacobites. The Nestorians 
were as far from being reconciled as ever. The Ar- 
menians retained the Creed of Cyril, but rejected 
Chalcedon. The work of the Council was regarded 
as the carrying out of the imperial program. All the 
Churches which were not Greek in race or speech 
separated from the Catholic Church. The result was 
more owing to race and national differences than to 



Doctrine of the Person of Christ 165 

theological distinctions. The emperors tried for one 
hundred and fifty years to heal these dissensions, but 
failed. Justinian called a General Council, the second 
of Constantinople, in 553, to interpret the Creed of 
Chalcedon in a Monophysite sense. At his desire, it 
condemned Origen and three of the early opponents 
of the Monophysite doctrine — Theodore, Diodorus, 
and Ibas. These efforts were unavailing. This age- 
long and widespread disaffection toward the Church 
and Empire was one potent cause of the rapid Mo- 
hammedan conquests of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. 
After 1,400 3'ears, these Oriental Churches present a 
divided and degraded Christianity to the Moslem 
population and governments under whom they have 
been in subjection and contempt for twelve centuries. 



Chapter V. 

THE PELAGIAN CONTROVERSY — DOCTRINE OF 
HUMAN SIN AND REDEMPTION. 

Thk chief figure in the Pelagian controversy was 
Aurelius Augustinus, the greatest of the Latin fathers, 
whose views on anthropology have profoundly af- 
fected the theology of Christendom until this day. 

St. Augustine was born at Tagaste, in Numidia, 

North Africa — present Algiers — November 13, 354. 

st Augus- -^ s f at h er > Patricius, was a burgess of the 

tine. town, and was still a pagan at the birth of 

His Life. j^ gon ^ jj e wag & man Q f ve ] iemen t an( J 

sensual disposition, but afterward became a Christian. 
His mother, Monica, was a Christian, and a woman of 
piety, who took care to have her son instructed in the 
true faith, and placed among the catechumens; yet, 
notwithstanding all his mother's admonitions and 
prayers, he grew up without any profession of Chris- 
tian piety or any devotion to Christian principles. 
His father was greatly interested in his education. 
He was sent first to Madura, and afterward, when 
seventeen years of age, to Carthage, to learn rhetoric. 
In his nineteenth year he read Cicero's " Hortensius," 
and eagerly engaged in philosophical studies. In 383 
he left Carthage for Rome. His stay of twelve years 
at Carthage — from his seventeenth to his twenty-ninth 
year — was remarkable for two phases of his experi- 
ence, which color all his after life and thought. Car- 
thage was a most immoral city. Led on by his pas- 
166 



The Pelagian Controversy. 167 

sions, Augustine plunged into the profligate life of 
the time. He formed an illicit connection — common 
enough in that society — and had a natural son born 
to him, whom he greatly loved, and named Adeoda- 
tus. Wearied and disgusted with a sensual life, he 
took refuge with the Manichaeans, whose dualistic 
principles, especially the essentially evil nature of 
matter, harmonized with his struggles and feelings. 
He went to Rome a Manichaean, and lodged with one 
of the sect; but meeting Faustus, their great leader, 
he was greatly disappointed in his converse with him. 
While he was teaching in Rome, Milan wished for a 
professor of rhetoric. He was sent by Symmachus, 
the prsefect of Rome, to fill the place. At Milan he 
made the acquaintance of the great Ambrose, who 
received him " like a father." He went to hear him, 
"trying to discover if his eloquence came up to the 
fame thereof." At last he was fully convinced of his 
Manichsean errors, but far from a Christian. 

He has left an account of his conversion (Con- 
fessions, 8, 13; P. N. F., Vol. I, p. 127): lt I flung 
myself down — how, I know not — under a 

. . Conversion. 

certain fig-tree, giving free course to my 
tears, and the streams of mine eyes gushed out — an 
acceptable sacrifice unto Thee. And, not indeed in 
these words, but to this effect, spake I much unto 
Thee, 'But Thou, O L,ord, how long? How long, 
Lord ? Wilt Thou be angry forever ? O, remember 
not against us former iniquities !' for I felt that I was 
enthralled by them. I sent up these sorrowful cries : 
'How long, h6w long? To-morrow, and to-morrow? 
Why not now? Why is there not, this hour, an end 
to my uncleanness ?' I was saying these things, and 



i68 The Truths that Won. 

weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, 
when, lo ! I heard the voice as of a boy or girl — I 
know not which — coming from a neighboring house, 
chanting and oft-repeating: 'Take up and read!' 
' Take up and read !' Immediately my countenance 
was changed, and I began more earnestly to consider 
whether it was usual for children, in any kind of 
game, to sing such words ; nor could I remember ever 
to have heard the like. So, restraining the torrent of 
my tears, I rose up, interpreting it in no other way 
than as a command to me from heaven to open the 
book, and to read the first chapter I should light 
upon. ... So I quickly returned to the place where 
Alypius was sitting; for there had I put down the 
volume of the apostles when I rose thence. I grasped, 
opened, and in silence read that paragraph on which 
my eyes first fell : ' Not in rioting and drunkenness, 
not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and 
envying: but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts 
thereof. 1 No further would I read, nor did, I need ; 
for instantly, as the sentence ended— by a light, as it 
were, of security infused into my heart — all the gloom 
of doubt vanished away." 

He was then thirty-two years of age. He pursued 
a course of instruction for baptism, and that rite was 
administered to him and his son by Ambrose, at 
Easter, 387. He gave up his profession as a teacher, 
and left Milan. His mother — the saintly Monica- 
died at Ostia as he was about to sail for Africa. In 
the same year he entered a community of monks, 
living by rule, in his native city. There he lived in 
retirement for about three years. In 391 he visited 



The Pelagian Controversy. 169 

Hippo — now Bona — when he was forced, by the ac- 
clamations of the people, to be ordained presbyter, at 
the age of thirty-seven. Four years later he was or- 
dained coadjutor bishop with Valerius; and on the 
death of the latter, 396, succeeded him in his See. 
From his forty-first year until his death — thirty-four 
years — he faithfully performed the duties of a bishop 
in the early Church. While living in community 
with his clergy, and conscientious in the performance 
of the duties of his office, it largely directed his liter- 
ary labors. The bishop was the defense of the Church 
against heresy. Hence, from the practical side of his 
work came the incitement which made his writings 
so largely controversial. He wrote his "Confessions " 
in 397; carried on his controversy with the Mani- 
chaeans from 395 to 400; with the Donatists, from 
400 to 415 ; the Pelagian, from 412 to 428. His great 
apology for the faith, the "City of God," was written 
413-426. His most finished doctrinal work, on the 
" Holy Trinity," occupied him nearly thirty years, 
from 400 to 428. 

In 429, the Vandals, under Genseric, invaded Af- 
rica, carrying ruin and devastation with them. Gen- 
seric, in 430, besieged Hippo, Augustine was seized 
with a fatal illness. Surrounded by the sufferings 
and sorrows of a doomed city and a dying race, in the 
third month of the siege, after seventy-five years of con- 
flict, this strong warrior soul passed from the city of 
defeat and death to the city of God, August 28, 430. 

Pelagius was a British monk, of whose early life 
nothing is known. He came to Rome pelagian 
about 400. He was pious, of agreeable ad- Controversy. 
dress, and had an earnest, moral aim. He was scan- 



170 



The Truths that Won. 



dalized at the evil lives of the Roman clergy. When 
he rebuked them, they replied that " Augustine taught 
that ' to do good is God's gift/ and he had not given 
them that gift." Pelagius taught that God required 
nothing impossible of men ; and that no ascetic exer- 
cise annuls the duty of watching and conquering 
self. 

The chief points of difference are the following : 

Augustine Hei,d: 
In Adam's sin, all his de- 
scendants are involved as sin- 
ful, corrupted, and guilty. 
Every man is in original sin. 



PEivAGius Hei<d: 
Sin is not in the nature, but 
in the will. Physical death is 
natural, not the result of sin. 
Adam's sin has not injured 
his descendants. There is no 
original sin. 

A sinless life, led by man's 
own power, is not absolutely 
impossible. The free will can 
always act against sin at the 
decisive moment. 

All children are born in the 
state of Adam's innocence. 
Children dying unbaptized go 
to heaven. Infant baptism is 
a consecration. 



We live only by the grace 
of Christ, and that grace is 
active, effective, and irresist- 
ible. 



This grace is bouna up with 
baptism ; so that unbaptized 
heathen, and children dying 
unbaptized, are shut out of 
heaven Infant baptism is for 
the remission of sin. 



Semi-Pelagianism arose in the monasteries of 
Southern France from the rejection of the extreme 
opinions of Augustine in regard to grace and free- 
Semi- will Its characteristic teaching was that 
Peiagian«sm g tace an( j free-will work together in human 
salvation. Some held that free-will began the work 
of salvation, and was supplemented by grace; and 
others that grace began the work, and was enforced 



The Pelagian Controversy. 171 

by free-will. John Cassianus, their greatest leader, 
taught that grace is necessary to every man, but free- 
will works with grace. 

Pelagius met Augustine in 411, and then went to 
Palestine ; and so far as we know, he spent the re- 
mainder of his life in the East. Augustine, feeling 
that Pelagian doctrines were the essence of what is 
Antichristian, wrote against him. A scholar course of the 
of Augustine, Orosius, went to Palestine, Controversy. 
and, with Jerome, accused Pelagius at the Synods of 
Jerusalem and Diospolis, 415. At both he was ac- 
quitted. He was condemned by two North African 
Synods, 416. Both parties appealed to Pope Inno- 
cent I. He was on both sides, but finally inclined to 
the African bishops. Pelagius's Confession of Faith, 
directed to him, did not arrive at Rome until after 
Innocents death in 417. His successor, Zosimus, ex- 
pressly recognized the orthodoxy of Pelagius, 418. 
In the same year the Synod of Carthage condemned 
Pelagius, and his opponents obtained a rescript from 
the Emperor Honorius, April 30, 418. Then Pope 
Zosimus pronounced on that side. Pelagius was con- 
demned, with Nestorius, by the Council of Ephesus, 
in 431. The small Synods of Orange and Valence, in 
529, decided in favor of Augustinian teaching as 
against both Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism. Greg- 
ory the Great, 590-604, adopted a modified Augustin- 
ianism, which ruled through the Middle Ages. We 
must admit the truth of the deeper views of sin and 
grace as taught by Augustine ; but all Protestants re- 
ject his teaching that saving grace is bound to the 
sacrament of baptism ; and all who are not predesti- 
narians deny that grace is irresistible. 



172 The Truths that Won. 

The peculiar doctrines of Augustine are in rela- 
tion to the effects of Adam's sin, original sin, the elec- 
Augustinian tion of grace, and predestination. These 
Teaching. are important from their wide and long- 
enduring influence, and can best be given in his own 
words. 

" Nevertheless, that one sin, admitted into a place 
where such perfect happiness reigned, was of so 
heinous a character that in one man the 
whole human race was originally, and, as 
one may say, radically condemned; and it can not be 
pardoned and blotted out except through the one 
Mediator between God and men— the man Christ 
Jesus, who only has had power to be so born as not 
to need a second birth." (Enchiridion, 48, p. 253.) 

" Hence, the whole mass of the human race is con- 
demned ; for he who at first gave entrance to sin has 
original Sin- ^ een punished, with all his posterity^ who 
Universal were in him as in a root, so that no one 
damnation of * s exem P t fr° m this just and due punish- 
the Non- ment, unless delivered by mercy and unde- 
served grace; and the human race is so 
apportioned that in some is displayed the efficacy of 
merciful grace ; in the rest, the efficacy of just retri- 
bution. For both could not be displayed in all; for 
if all had remained under the punishment of just 
condemnation, there would have been seen in no one 
the mercy of redeeming grace. And, on the other 
hand, if all had been transformed from darkness to 
light, the severity of retribution would have been 
manifest in none. But many more are left under pun- 
ishment than are delivered from it, in order that it 
may thus be shown what was due to all. And had it 



The Pelagian Controversy. 173 

been inflicted on all, no one could justly have found 
fault with the justice of Him who taketh vengeance ; 
whereas, in the deliverance of so many from that just 
award, there is cause to render the most cordial 
thanks to the gratuitous bounty of Him who deliv- 
ers." (De Civitate Dei, XXI, xii, p. 463.) 

"And, consequently, both those who have not heard 
the gospel, and those who, having heard it and been 
changed by it for the better, have not re- The Mass 
ceived perseverance ; and those who, hav- of the 
ing heard the gospel, have refused to come Non ~ eIect - 
to Christ — that is, to believe on him — since he him- 
self says, 'No man cometh unto me, except it were 
given him of my Father;' and those who, by their 
tender age, were unable to believe, but might be ab- 
solved from original sin by the sole laver of regener- 
ation, and yet have not received this laver, and have 
perished in death, — are not made to differ from that 
lump which it is plain is condemned, as all go from 
one [Adam] into condemnation. Some are made to 
differ, however — not by their own merits, but by the 
grace of the Mediator; that is to say, they are justi- 
fied freely in the blood of the second Adam. There- 
fore, when we hear, l For who maketh thee to differ ? 
and what hast thou that thou hast not received? 
Now, if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as 
if thou hadst not received it?' (1 Cor. iv, -7)— we 
ought to understand that, from that mass of perdition 
which originated through the first Adam, no one can 
be made to differ except he who has this gift, which 
whosoever has, has received by the grace of the 
Savior.' ' (De Correptione et Gratia, Vol. V, ch. xii, 
p. 476.) 



174 The Truths that Won. 

" Those, then, are elected, as has often been said, 
who are called according to the purpose, who also are 
Election predestinated and foreknown. If any one 
and Perse- of these perishes, God is mistaken ; but 
verance. none f them perishes, because God is not 
mistaken. If any one of these perishes, God is over- 
come by human sin ; but none of them perishes, be- 
cause God is overcome by nothing." (De Correptione 
et Gratia, Vol. V, ch. xiv, p. 477.) 

These peculiar doctrines of Augustine widely and 
deeply influenced his own age. They were the result 
of his thinking and experience, but were elaborated 
Peculiar in his controversies with the Manichseans, 
Doctrines j-j^ Donatists, and the Pelagians. They 
powerfully influenced modern Christendom. They 
ruled the thinking of the Middle Ages and the teach- 
ing of Calvin, L,uther, the English Puritans, and 
their ecclesiastical descendants. For fourteen cen- 
turies he has been the leading theological teacher of 
Western Christendom. Beginning with Arminius 
and Wesley, the reaction against his opinions has be- 
come general in this century. 

Augustine, to the grief of Christendom, was not a 
scholar, nor was he a broad, constructive, or sympa- 
thetic theologian. He was a powerful and original, 
Character of though not a consistent or comprehensive 
his Thinking, thinker. His central thought is the doc- 
trine of sin ; his chief excellence, the exaltation of 
grace. He brought religion out of philosophic cos- 
mology, and worship into the sphere of the innermost 
life of the soul. His chief teaching may be grouped 
about the three ideas — the Church, predestination, and 
the evangelical faith. 



The Pelagian Controversy. 175 

According to Augustine, the Holy Spirit is bound 
to the Church, so that the Church is the necessary 
means of salvation. The Holy Spirit is infallibly 
communicated through the sacrament of 
ordination, by which an indelible character 
is imparted to the recipient, and the priest is separated 
from the laity as the one through whom the grace of 
God is conveyed to men, and the holy sacrifice of the 
Eucharist offered to God. Thus unbaptized children 
are forever unsaved; marriage must become a sacra- 
ment, so as to be consecrated by the Church ; property 
is consecrated by alms ; the Church should direct all 
science; and the State is only valuable when it places 
its means at the service of the Church. In these po- 
sitions, Augustine is the father of Roman Catholicism, 
of the duty of religious persecution, and of those 
ideas of Church authority and the necessity of 
priestly sacrifice which are contradicted by the whole 
history of the Protestant Churches. 

Predestination has been so fully treated in the ex- 
tracts that only the briefest characterization is at- 
tempted here. The aim of Augustine's teaching is 
union with God. Sin is separation from Predestina- 
God, self willing to be independent, the tion * 
proud thought of the heart. Sin brings unrest ; only 
God can give rest. This is brought to men in com- 
munion with God through grace, which irresistibly 
seizes us and gives us a new being. Grace is con- 
ceived as coming from the absolute decree of God be- 
fore all time ; so that the saved are sons of God be- 
fore their birth, their faith in Christ, or any connec- 
tion with the means of grace. It is conceived as 
flowing, independently of Christ or his work, out of 



176 The Truths that Won. 

the being of God. Every process of the earthly or 
individual life, or of collective history, is only an ap- 
pearance ; in reality, it occurred before all time in the 
counsels of God. Prom this results a conception of 
God which contradicts the most evident ethical princi- 
ples. Augustine never fully overcame his Manichae- 
ism. There is a persistent dualism running through 
his whole scheme of thought. The devil and his 
kingdom forever rival, if they do not endanger, the 
supremacy of God. 

Grace which brings salvation is given on account 
of Christ, his sufferings, and his cross. "And thus 
he appears for us as our head, himself the fount of 
The Evan- grace." The just shall live by faith, is a 
geiicai Faith. new thought from the Holy Scriptures. 
These Scriptures were the foundation of Augustine's 
thinking. He lived in them. They were the source 
of the faith by which we are saved. In his love 
and use of the Bible and treatment of traditions out- 
side of it, he laid down positions held by the Protest- 
ant Churches. In his fundamental conviction, " For 
me to cleave to God is good;" and that God is in us 
to create faith and good works, bringing the human 
soul into immediate connection and dealing with God ; 
and in the rejection of all human merit or good works 
as procuring salvation ; but that it is of God's grace 
alone, — he does away with all Church or priestly medi- 
ation, and prepares the way for the Reformation. 

These are his main, but not only, contradictions. 
They arise from the cast of his mind, more acute and 
profound than comprehensive ; from his lack of broad 
culture, his practical aim, and the exigencies of con- 
troversy. The ground of his central teaching con- 



The Pelagian Controversy. 177 

cerning original sin seems to have been suggested to 
him from the practice of infant baptism as of use in 
the controversy with Pelagius. The teaching con- 
cerning the priesthood and the Church was developed 
in the Donatist controversy. Augustine, with all his 
writings, prepared no work which will compare with 
Origen's " De Principiis." Perhaps his greatest error, 
and the one from which Christendom has suffered 
longest, is that of confining the work of the Holy 
Ghost to those who are in communion with the 
Catholic Church. The recognition of the larger mis- 
sion of the Holy Spirit is the prerequisite to success 
in the work of Christian missions, and the funda- 
mental condition of the reunion of Christendom. 

Professor Harnack has called Augustine the Re- 
former of Christian Piety. It is this aspect of his 
work which commends him to us, in spite of contra- 
dictions and unworthy conceptions of God and man. 
For Augustine, Christianity was not a higher knowl- 
edge; with him there were no differing classes of 
Christians according to intellectual capacity. He 
taught that, " not what one knew or said decided, but 
what one loved; for when it is asked whether any 
one be a good man, it is not asked what he believes 
and rightly hopes, but what he loves. For he who 
loves rightly, without doubt rightly believes and 
rightly hopes ; but he who loves not, believes in vain. 
Iyittle love is little righteousness; great love is great 
righteousness ; perfect love is perfect righteousness." 

Through love in humility, we renounce self and 
lust, and receive God and his law ; the peace of God 
is poured into the soul ; the living God is its Friend. 
So he taught, in his "City of God," that the historical 



178 The Truths thai Won. 

development was to end in perfection through the Di- 
vine education of the race. Augustine was a man of 
high-souled courage ; he loved God ; he was fearlessly 
truthful and honest. His works have been the sup- 
port of all truth-loving souls from I,uther and Calvin 
to the Jansenist of Port Royal and to Dollinger and 
the opponents of the Vatican decrees of our own 
day. His character and personality gave weight to 
his words through the ages, and is well outlined in 
our closing extract : 

" O how wonderful, how beautiful and lovely are 
the dwellings of thy house, Almighty God ! . . . 

Jerusalem, holy city of God, dear bride of Christ, 
Augustine's my heart loves thee; my soul has already 
Meditations. i ong s i g hed for thy beauty! The King of 
kings himself is in the midst of thee, and his children 
are within thy walls. There are the hymning choirs of 
angels, the fellowship of heavenly citizens. There is 
the wedding-feast of all who, from this sad, earthly 
pilgrimage, have reached thy joys. There is the far- 
seeing choir of the prophets ; there the company of 
the twelve apostles ; there the triumphant army of in- 
numerable martyrs and holy confessors. Full and 
perfect love there reigns; for God is all in all. They 
love and praise ; they praise and love him for evermore. 
Blessed, perfectly and forever blessed, shall I too be, 
if, when my poor body shall be dissolved, . . . 

1 may stand before my King and God, and see him in 
his glory, as he himself hath deigned to promise. 
' Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given 
me be with me where I am, that they may behold 
my glory which I had with thee before the world 
was.' " (P. N. F., Vol. I, p. 6.) 



fart TOnL 
THE RULERS IN THE NEW WORLD. 

179 



Chapter I. 

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 

Our Lord left no command on the subject of 
Church government, and no ideal constitution for the 
societies gathered in his name. He gave, as the prin- 
ciple of their being and organization, a love like his 
own, and a spiritual headship never vacant or changed, 
because held by himself, and manifest and ministered 
by the Holy Ghost. This makes legitimate all forms 
of Church rule and authority which do not violate 
these two fundamental principles of the Redeemer's 
reign in his kingdom. 

The Church was an assembly of all baptized be- 
lievers. All had, or were supposed to possess, the 
Holy Spirit. They controlled their affairs TheAposto i ic 
in a democratic, congregational manner, Church. 
and the spiritual motive predominated. A P° stlesf - 
The apostles were those to whom they owed their 
founding and first hearing of the gospel. They were 
not necessarily of the twelve, but, both in their time 
and later, of those who had not seen the Lord, being 
traveling teachers or evangelists, who had given up 
whatever property they possessed to the poor, and 
went everywhere preaching the word. They are men- 
tioned in the Acts xiii, i; i Cor. xii, 28; Eph. iv, 11 ; 
and the "Teaching of the Twelve/ ' The nearest 
modern example would be the itinerant founders of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church in America. 

181 



1 82 The Rulers in the New World. 

The prophets were sometimes traveling teachers, 

like the apostles, as we see in the " Teaching of the 

Twelve," and in the " Shepherd" of Her- 

Prophets. ' . ./% 

mas; and sometimes settled, as seem to 
have been Agabus and the daughters of Philip. The 
distinctive feature of their office was that they gave 
the word of the L,ord. They were held in high honor, 
and judged as true or false by the test of their lives. 
They offered prayers at the communion, and received 
of the gifts then offered. 

The teachers were men like Apollos, or assistants 
of the aposties, like Timothy, or Titus, or Silvanus. 
They taught the teaching necessary for the 
congregation and suggested by the Spirit. 
They taught of faith, love, and wisdom. Prophets 
and teachers are grouped together, as at Antioch — 
Barnabas and Simeon, Iyucius and Manaen. In addi- 
tion, there were those specially endowed with gifts, by 
the Spirit, of government or ministration to the needs 
of the poor, the sick, or of the Church. These were 
all spiritual gifts to a person, and not to an office. 

But the leadership of the Church was not left en- 
tirely to these personal endowments, of which it 
Church might be deprived by death or removal. 
officers. p^ certain position was given to men who 
were first converted, and had and maintained influ- 
ence in the Church, such as Stephanas, at Corinth. 
Men were chosen to an official position in the early 
societies, having recognized duties and responsibilities. 
Such was the choice of the deacons recorded in the 
sixth chapter of Acts. So Paul and Barnabas or- 
dained elders in every Church they founded in Asia 
Minor, on their first missionary journey. So Titus 



Organization of the Early Church. 183 

was exhorted to ordain elders in the Churches in 
Crete. So Paul writes to the bishops and deacons of 
the Church at Philippi, and calls to him the elders of 
the Church at Ephesus. And we find, early in his 
ministry, in the Church at Jerusalem, at the Apostolic 
Council, 55, the apostles and elders ; so, also, 1 Pet. v, 1. 

These official terms, bishops and elders, or presby- 
ters, seem to be used interchangeably, and their offices 
were of equal rank and dignity during the first hun- 
dred years of the Christian Church. Compare Titus 
i, 5 and i, 7; 1 Tim. v, 17-19, with iii, 1 and iv, 14; 
Acts xx, 17 with xx, 28 ; so, also, the epistle of Clem- 
ent, 96, and "The Shepherd" of Hermas, 130, shown, 
also, by the language of Irenaeus, 177-202, and Clem- 
ent of Alexandria, 190-220. The apostles living and 
teaching in communities of Jews and Gentiles con- 
formed the organization of the Churches more or 
less to the social forms with which they were famil- 
iar. There was no idea of establishing an exact pat- 
tern of Church government, to be closely copied dur- 
ing the Christian ages. This is clearly seen when we 
consider the apostolate, the foremost ecclesiastical 
office in their time. They made no provision for its 
continuance after their death. The apostolic fathers 
knew nothing of an apostolic succession of bishops. 
Hence, whatever shape Christian truth, Christian love, 
and the necessities and circumstances of the time, 
under the guidance of the presence and power of the 
Holy Spirit, gave to the organization and polity of 
the Church, was both legitimate and providential. 

This organization was, at the first, of the simplest 
kind. Following the forms of the organization known 
to the Synagogue, as far as these were suited to a 



1 84 The Rulers in the New World, 

Christian assembly, the first officers of the infant 
Church, after the apostles, were deacons and presby- 
ters, or elders. It is significant that the dea- 

Deacons. 

cons, the first Church officers chosen, were 
destined to an office which had developed through 
the exigencies and increase of the work, and was 
wholly original, but has continued through all forms 
of Church organization, and through all ages to our 
time. The deacons were chosen at first to relieve the 
apostles from the care of temporal concerns, and to 
minister to the sick, the poor, the widows, and later, 
the martyrs, and any needing help. In the early 
Church, the ministry was to the temporal necessities 
of the faithful, and the first officers chosen by the 
Church were for this service. Though two of the 
original seven were preachers of the word, this minis- 
try seems not to have belonged to their office. 
Their character and demeanor were to be such as be- 
comes representative men in the Christian society, 
holding positions of responsibility in respect both to 
the Church and to the world. In time, they became 
the ministers or deputies of the bishops in their ad- 
ministration of the increasing temporalities of the 
Church, and assistants of the presbyters in the admin- 
istration of the sacrament of baptism and of the 
Lord's Supper. When men of signal ability, they be- 
came assistants of presbyters and bishops at the Dio- 
cesan, Provincial, and even (Ecumenical Councils. 
Long before 400, the office became a recognized step 
toward the priesthood. And yet, though this office is 
found in almost all forms of Church-life, still, in none 
of them do its original duties form the main func- 
tions of the officers who bear its name. In the 



Organization of the Early Church. 185 

Greek, Roman Catholic, and Episcopal Protestant 
Churches, it is a lower step to the priesthood or elder- 
ship, and its duties are confined to assisting the offi- 
ciating ministers in the sacraments. In the Churches 
of the Presbyterian and Congregational polity, the 
main duty of the deacons is to look after the tem- 
poral and spiritual condition and current expenses of 
the Church. If the sick and poor come under their 
charge, it is only an incident, and not the main con- 
cern of the office. 

Indeed, the original idea in its purity seems only 
to be realized in the revived office of deaconess. 
Their work and ministry were known and 

Deaconesses r 

praised in the Apostolic Church, and men- 
tioned by heathen enemies in the beginning of the 
second century. From the second to the third cen- 
tury, the office became inferior to that of the widows 
of the Church, who discharged most of their peculiar 
duties. In the Greek Church, it was revived in the 
fourth century. In the Roman Church, it gave way 
finally to the female monastic orders. It was revived 
in Germany, England, and America, in this century, 
for the accomplishment of a work long neglected in 
Protestantism. The crying ^ need, especially in our 
large centers of population, is for a revival of the 
primitive office of deacon, and the congregational care 
of the sick, destitute, widow, the orphan, and the aged. 
The word presbyter is the Greek word for senior, 
or elder. From it come our words priest and Pres- 
byterian, Presbytery, etc. Its nearest Eng- 

". - ; ' . ,' , . . Presbyters, 

hsh equivalent is elder, and it is so trans- 
lated in our version of the New Testament. To the 
Christian presbyter were given the functions and du- 



1 86 The Rulers in the New World. 

ties which were confided to the elders in the Jewish 
synagogue. The Jewish elders formed a court, which 
administered discipline in their community and as- 
sembly. There is little doubt that Christian presby- 
ters or elders were at first disciplinary officers, who 
looked after the morals and behavior of the society. 
The presbyters condemned to ecclesiastical censure, 
and deprived of communion, or assigned other forms 
of discipline or penance. They also pronounced the 
penitent absolved, and restored to the communion of 
the Church. The communities in which the founder, 
or predominant element, was Jewish, had elders. 
The Church at Jerusalem had elders, but also a 
lengthened presidency of James, the brother of our 
Lord. The Churches at Bphesus had elders; but St. 
John long presided over them. So the Church at 
Antioch had elders ; but Ignatius was their bishop. 
The administration of the Eucharist and the benedic- 
tion were deemed inherent in the office of presbyter ; 
but all presbyters were not originally preachers, 
though teaching from the Scriptures came to be their 
recognized work, especially in the East. While the 
Churches of Jewish origin had elders, the Churches 
of Gentile stock had bishops — probably conforming to 
the title and office of the mutual relief and burial 
clubs of that time. The presbyterate has suffered no 
such transformation as the diaconate and episcopacy. 
It is now, as it has been through the ages, the great 
office of the Christian ministry through which the 
preaching of the word, the administration of the sac- 
raments, and the care of souls has been and is now, 
ministered to millions of believers. Through the 
presbyterate, as by no other means, the love, word, and 



Organization of the Early Church. 187 

sacraments of our Lord come to the hearts and family 
life of Christians. A Church could exist without 
bishops and without deacons ; but without the dis- 
charge of the duties which fall to the office of the 
Christian presbyter, it could have no organized life. 
The piety, devotion, ability, and character of the 
presbyterate has, in every generation, been the surest 
test of the spiritual condition and the effective work 
of the Christian Church. 

In the Gentile communities, the bishop was largely 
a financial as well as a disciplinary officer. Repre- 
senting the Church, he seems to have had charge of 
the funds which were ministered by the dea- 

1-1 11 -r 1 • Bishops. 

cons to the sick and the poor. In this way 
he became responsible, not only for the contributions 
for current expenses, but also for the money or real 
estate given to the Christian community by bequest 
or deed of gift. As he had charge of the financial 
resources of the Church, and presided over the con- 
gregation, as the presbyter in Churches of Jewish 
origin, he must have kept the canon, or catalogue, or 
list of members. This being in his custody, he alone 
could tell who were worthy of letters of Christian 
commendation, and of the alms and temporal care of 
the Church. Thus, when heresies were rife, the 
bishop was the depositary of the apostolic tradition of 
the faith; and he applied the standard to all mem- 
bers of the Church, especially to those receiving her 
aid. Not only so, but he was the recognized de- 
fender of the faith against the heretics ; and through 
his ability in controversy and his government, he 
was the great bond of the unity of the Church and 
the guard of its purity both in faith and morals. 



1 88 The Rulers in the New World. 

Hence he became more and more a preacher of Chris- 
tian truth and the representative of the Christian 
community. 

In the intercourse of the Churches with each 
other, the presbyterate would extend to the Gentile 
Churches, as no one man, and hence no bishop, could 
perform the duties which devolved upon the presby- 
ters ; hence they formed the council of the bishop in 
cases of discipline and administration, dispensing the 
sacraments, and teaching under commission of the 
bishop. How did Churches originally having elders 
come to have bishops? In various ways in different 
places. In some places, apostolic residence — as at 
Jerusalem or Ephesus, and possibly Peter at Antioch — 
gave a permanent presidency to the College of Pres- 
byters. This continued in Palestine until 200. In 
other places, " the College of Presbyters would tend to 
choose, for the performance or superintendence of any 
action resolved upon, one of their number, who 
would be the episcopos for the occasion. If of proved 
fitness for executive duties, he would be often chosen, 
and tend to become permanent. His authority was 
long a delegated one, and his influence dependent 
mainly on his personal qualities.' ' 

The bishop was in the beginning but the first 
among equals, and then president of the presbyters 
for purposes of discipline. The worship of the 
Church demanded a leader, a single individual. The 
intercourse between the Churches demanded a repre- 
sentative man in each. From 125 to 200, the bishops 
increased in power through the conflict with the 
Gnostic heresies and Montanism. In Asia Minor, 
Syria, and North Africa, there was a bishop in every 



Organization of the Early Church, 189 

small town; in Pontus, Gaul, and later in Upper 
Italy, they were only in the chief cities ; in the time 
of Irenaeus, only one bishop was in Gaul, at Lyons. 
By 170, each individual community was ruled by a 
gradation of officials, at whose head was the bishop; 
and the bishop represented the community. 

In regard to apostolic succession in this age, Pro- 
fessor Ramsay says: " The theories of the functions 
of the episcopate and its relations to the community 
varied with the lapse of time. In Igna- Apostolic 
tius, the Clementines, and the Apostolic succession. 
Constitution, 115-260, the bishop stood in the place of 
the unseen Lord, intrusted with the oversight of his 
Master's household until he should return. Later it 
came to be a not unnatural inference, from the belief 
that the bishop was the custodian and conservator of 
apostolic teaching, that he, rather than the presbyters, 
took the apostolic place. The bishops had succeeded 
the apostles in the presidency of several of the 
Churches by a delegated vicarious ordination.' ' 



Chapter II. 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EPISCOPATE. 

The great feature of the Church organization of 
this period, 170-600, was the increase in the power 
and authority of the Christian bishop. It is difficult 
to conceive how the Church could have maintained 
herself against the manifold heresies and divisions of 
the century between 150 and 250, without the strong 
and centralized government of the episcopate. This 
also formed so firm a bond of union and government 
that the organization of the Church was stronger than 
that of the Roman Empire, as experience taught 
Decius and Diocletian. The development of a fixed 
and controlling executive power like the episcopate 
seems to have been an historic necessity. The office 
drew to it, for the service of the Church, the greatest 
men of the time. In persecution, they were the first 
selected for the attack. They nobly stood the test of 
martyrdom; as witness Symeon and Alexander of Jeru- 
salem, Ignatius and Babylas of Antioch, Fabianus 
and Sixtus of Rome, Cyprian of Carthage, Pothinus 
of Lyons, and Methodius of Tyre, to take only the 
most noted. They were among the first missionaries 
to the barbarians, as Ulfilas to the Goths and St. Mar- 
tin of Tours to the Franks. Indeed, in any list of 
the great men of this time, confined even to teachers 
and writers, the larger and more influential part 
would be found in the ranks of the episcopate. Such 
were Athanasius, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Augustine, 
190 



Development of the Episcopate. 191 

Cyprian, and Eusebius of Caesarea. To them fell the 
task of preserving and transmitting the laws and cul- 
ture of the old civilization to their Frankish conquer- 
ors, a task which later came to the monasteries. 

At the beginning of this period the presbyters 
formed with the bishops a college or board, like a 
Board of Trustees, for the charge of the Bishops and 
different administrative duties. The bishop Presbyters. 
regarded himself as fellow-presbyter and priest with 
them, only that he had precedence in rank. They 
often formed an aristocratic party, in opposition to the 
bishop. The deacons were subordinate to them, as 
they could not administer the lord's Supper, which 
was the function of the presbyters. 

The defense against heresy increased the authority 
of the bishop and the respect of the office. Irenseus 
taught that neither Apostolic Churches nor the scholars 
of the apostles can assure the truth against Defense 
human weakness of remembrance and sub- against 
jective influence. But God assures the ^^the 
truth through the bishops, who, in virtue of Apostolic 
their office, have a gift of the Holy Ghost, Succession - 
and take the place of the apostles and prophets. The 
gift is such that in the apostolic office of bishop lies 
the assurance of apostolic truth. The bishop is the 
heir of the spiritual gifts of the early Church, and, 
through the succession of bishops, is the continuance 
of the authority of the apostolate in the Church. 
This is the germ of the theory of apostolic succession ; 
and in 190 this view finds its earliest expression. Its 
farther development is thus sketched by Professor 
Ramsay : " When discipline as well as doctrine cen- 
tered in the bishops, it began to be argued that they 



192 The Rulers in the New World. 

had succeeded, not only to the seats which the apos- 
tles filled, but also to the powers which they pos- 
sessed. It began to be urged that-the powers, espe- 
cially of binding and loosing, which the Lord had 
conferred on the apostles, were given them, not per- 
sonally, or as constituting the Church of the time, 
but in representative capacity, as the first members 
of a long line of Church officers. Against an early 
assertion of this view, Tertullian raised a vigorous 
protest; nor did the view win its way to general ac- 
ceptance until the time of the great Latin theologians 
of the fifth century, 410-440. It was a still later de- 
velopment of this view to maintain that the bishops 
had also succeeded to the power of the apostles in the 
conferring of spiritual gifts, and that through them, 
and through them exclusively, did it please the Holy 
Spirit to enter into the souls of either individual 
Christians in baptism, or of Church officers in ordi- 
nation. It was received as a doctrine by the Council 
of Paris, 829, and passed into the ordinals, or ritual 
for ordination. " 

The man whose writings and influence affected 
the doctrines of the Church and the development of 
the episcopacy more than any other one man in this 
or any other period of the history of the 
Church, was Thascius Csecilius Cyprianus. 
He was born at Carthage, about 200. Of patrician 
family, and highly educated, he had either inherited 
or acquired considerable wealth. For some time he 
was occupied as a teacher of rhetoric. Enthusiastic 
in his temperament, accomplished in classical liter- 
ature and rhetorical art, while a pagan he courted 
discussions with converts to Christianity. Caecilius, 



Development of the Episcopate. 193 

a. presbyter of Carthage, was the instrument of his 
conversion; and he assumed his name when he was 
baptized, 246. He devoted his wealth to the relief 
of the poor and to other pious uses. He was chosen 
bishop of the Church at Carthage, 248, an office which 
he held until his martyrdom in 258. We have a con- 
temporary account of his execution. The people 
crowded to the scene. He was called the friend of 
the poor, the helper of the defenseless. The place 
of execution was thronged as at the death of a king. 
The governor said: "A few more such executions, 
and we are lost." 

Cyprian's extraordinary qualifications and activity 
as an ecclesiastical ruler are seen clearly in his letters. 
He lived in the times of heretical divisions, schisms, 
and of the persecutions. He apprehended C y pHanon 
the unity of the Church as of a living or- the 
ganism. He made this union a visible and P |SC °P ate ° 
external one, through the sacraments and the regu- 
larly-ordained clergy; not in a unity of faith and fel- 
lowship with our common Lord. He declared : u He 
can no longer have God for his Father who has not 
the Church for hisf mother. . . . Does any one be- 
lieve this unity, which comes from the Divine strength 
and coheres in celestial sacraments, can be divided in 
the Church ? He who does not hold this unity does 
not hold God's law, does not hold the faith of the 
Father and of the Son, does not hold life and sal- 
vation." 

Cyprian made the episcopate the representative of 
this unity. He taught the substantial equality of the 
Christian bishops. The bishops, by the gift of the 
Spirit received at ordination , are the successors of the 

A3 



194 The Rulers in the New World. 

apostles— they have apostolic powers, are teachers 
and judges of Christians ; they bind and loose, and 
are stewards of Divine gifts of grace. His motto 
was, "The Church in the bishop." He says: ''They 
are the Church who are a people united to the priest, 
and the flock which adheres to its pastor. Whence 
you ought to know that the bishop is in the Church, 
and the Church is in the bishop, and if any one be 
not with the bishop, that he is not in the Church '■ 

The ability and generosity, the self-denial, paternal 
care, and benignity of this great prelate, with his 
death of martyrdom, tended to make this the prevail- 
ing doctrine and the corner-stone of the religious 
organization. 

The position of Augustine as the great theologian 
of the West, his piety, his success as a controversial- 
influence of ist, his character and growing influence, 
Augustine. ma( j e decisive his opinions on Church au- 
thority. He follows in the path of Cyprian, but goes 
beyond him. "No one attains to salvation and to 
eternal life who has not Christ for his head — who does 
not belong to his body, which is the Church. The 
entire Christ is the Head and body ; the Head is the 
only begotten Son of God, and the body is the Church. 
He who agrees not with the Scriptures with the doc- 
trine concerning the Head, although he may stand in 
external communion with the Church, notwithstand- 
ing, belongs not to her. But moreover, he who holds 
fast to all the Scripture teaches respecting the Head, 
and yet cleaves not to the unity of the Church, be- 
longs not to her. ... I should not believe the 
gospel had I not been moved to do so by the author- 
ity of the Catholic Church." Undoubtedly, unity was 



Development of the Episcopate. 195 

the great need of the Church in that age of the disso- 
lution of all political and social bonds ; but this was a 
great price to pay for it. A broad foundation was 
laid for the claims of Rome and the superstructure 
was not long wanting. 

The noblest representative of the episcopate of 
these centuries was Ambrose of Milan. His father's 
name was Ambrose, and he was praetorian Ambrose. 
praefect, or imperial governor, of Gaul, His Life 
Spain, and Britain. During his term of office, his son 
Ambrose was born in Gaul, probably in 340. While 
quite young, his father died, when his mother repaired 
to Rome. There he received a religious education, 
and was reared in habits of virtue by his mother, a 
woman of exceptional accomplishment and piety. 
He was trained in the rudiments of Greek and Roman 
literature, and in law. He won such reputation in 
the practice of law at the court of Probus, the prae- 
torian praefect of Italy, that he was taken into his 
counsel, and afterward appointed consular praefect, or 
imperial governor, for L,iguria and Emilia, which in- 
cluded Milan, Liguria, Turin, Genoa, and Bologna. 
His residence was at Milan, and by prudent and gen- 
tle use of his power, he conducted the affairs of the 
province with general approbation and growing pop- 
ularity. 

Auxentius, Bishop of Milan, died in 374. The 
tide of religious feeling ran high between the Arians 
and the orthodox. The people came together for the 
election of a new bishop. Ambrose came in his civil 
capacity of governor. u He spoke to the people in a 
grave, eloquent, and pathetic address, admonishing 
them to lay aside their contentions, and to proceed to 



196 The Rulers in the New World. 

the election in the spirit of religious meekness." 
Some one cried out, " L,et Ambrose be bishop," when 
he was at once unceremoniously chosen to the vacant 
See. He declined the office, and concealed himself, 
but was discovered, and his election was confirmed 
by the emperor. He was then a catechumen, but was 
baptized, and eight days afterward, in his thirty-fifth 
year, toward the end of 374, ordained Bishop of Mi- 
lan. He had never married, but lived with his sister 
Marcellina, who had early taken the vows of a virgin 
in the Church, and a brother, Satyrus, likewise un- 
married, and both older than himself, in the tenderest 
intimacy and family affection. Upon his ordination, 
as he had large means, he distributed his money to 
the poor and settled his lands upon the Church, ex- 
cept some of which he made his sister tenant for life. 
His sister looked after all the domestic needs of the 
household, while his brother relieved him from all 
financial cares and responsibilities. He entered upon 
a regular course of theological study, under the care 
of Simplician, a presbyter of Rome. He studied 
Philo, Origen, and Basil, and read Clement of Alex- 
andria and Didymus. In his thinking, he drew from 
the Scriptures, the philosophic writings of Cicero, and 
from Philo and Origen. He was fitted for the duties 
of the high office to which he was so unexpectedly 
called by the purity of his character, his natural abil- 
ity as a teacher and governor, his warm sympathies, 
and undaunted courage ; also, in the execution of his 
duties, he was able, bold, and upright. 

Ambrose responded with zeal to the cause of the 
orthodox against the Arians. He presided at Aquileia 
in 381, where the Arian bishops were condemned and 



Development of the Episcopate. 197 

deposed. He withstood successfully Symmaclius in 
his petition for the restoration of the Altar of Victory 
in the hall of the Roman Senate, and the revival of 
the pagan ceremonies. In 384, the young Emperor 
Valentinian and his mother Justina professed the 
Arian faith. They requested the use of two churches 
for the Arian party, but Ambrose refused. Force 
was employed to take possession of the large basilica 
for the imperial worshipers. The people favored 
Ambrose, and filled the church. Ambrose said: " If 
you demand my person, I am ready to submit ; carry 
me to prison or to death — I will not resist ; but I will 
never betray the Church of Christ. I will not call upon 
the people to succor me ; I will die at the foot of the 
altar rather than desert it." One of the imperial 
chamberlains sent word to him : " While I live, dost 
thou despise Valentinian, I will strike off thy head!" 
Ambrose replied : " God grant you to fulfill what you 
threaten; for then my fate will be that of a bishop, 
your act will be that of a eunuch." The empress 
desisted from her purpose. When the emperor was 
urged to confront Ambrose in the church, he replied : 
" His eloquence would compel you yourselves to lay 
me, bound hand and foot, at his feet." 

Ambrose refused to celebrate communion with 
those who had caused the death of Priscillian for 
heresy, and with the usurper who had murdered his 
friend, the Emperor Gratian. He expended the treas- 
ure and melted the sacramental service of the church 
to rescue the multitudes of Christians taken captive in 
the wars of that time. He successfully interceded 
with Theodosius for the pardon of those who had 
supported the usurper Eugenius. When Theodosius 



198 The Rulers in the New World. 

himself, in a fit of ungovernable rage, had caused the 
massacre of seven thousand persons in the circus at 
Thessalonica, as punishment for a riot in which the 
majesty of the emperor had been insulted, and some 
of his officers maltreated and killed, Ambrose with- 
drew from the capital, and wrote a courteous but 
manly letter, in which he bade the emperor repent 
and do public penance for liis sin. Theodosius ac- 
knowledged his guilt, stripped himself of his royal 
insignia, and, praying for pardon with groans and 
tears, was received again into communion with the 
Church. 

Ambrose proved true indeed what his secretary 
said of him after his death, — he was " a man who, for 
fear of God, had never feared to speak the truth to 
kings." The writings of his episcopate of twenty- 
three years fill four volumes, and comprise commen- 
taries, sermons, ethical and practical writings, and 
ninety-two letters. Some of his hymns have come 
down to us, and are in all collections. The old Ro- 
man spirit and power speak in them. 

He was not above his age in his exaltation of celi- 
bacy, his superstitious reverence of relics, dreams, and 
false miracles, and his bigotry, preventing justice to 
infidels and heretics where the interests of the Church 
were concerned. But he was great in character and 
as a Christian bishop. He fed with a liberal hand 
the poor who flocked to his dwelling ; he showed un- 
common generosity and kindness to his adversaries ; 
with Christian affection, he sought the happiness of 
all men. He everywhere commanded the confidence 
of men. The dying Theodosius, " the last great em- 
peror of the world, ,, commended his sons to his care. 



Development of the Episcopate. 199 

When Ambrose was dying, the regent Stilicho urged 
the people to pray for his recovery. " I have not so 
lived among you," said Ambrose, " as to be ashamed 
to live ; I have so good a Master that I am not afraid 
to die." He passed from the cares of the Church 
militant to the joys of the Church triumphant, on 
Good Friday, April 4, 397. 

If there was magnificent scope for the exercise of 
episcopal powers in the days of Ambrose, the oppor- 
tunity was not less in the time of the Teu- Bishops in 
tonic conquest. The bishop then had his °jf u l^ Q 
residence in the city — often in the praeto- Conquest, 
rium, or house of the Roman governors. He wore 
the dress of a Roman noble, and was the center of 
the old Roman life, culture, and law. He acted as 
judge among the Roman inhabitants, as understand- 
ing their law, and where were concerned widows and 
orphans. He had in his care and administered the 
great wealth and large estates of the Church, which 
had been given and bequeathed by the pious of both 
the Roman and Teutonic peoples. In the assemblies 
of the Frankish nobles, he sat beside the king. In 
this intercourse, the bishops brought to the Frankish 
nobility, not only the Roman culture, but the Chris- 
tian religion. The bishops were either men trained 
to a monkish life in the cloisters, or men of rank and 
literary talent from the old Gallic nobility ; in either 
case, men of education. The monk had to outgrow 
the cloister; the noble often lacked the spiritual 
mind. Of the necessary qualifications for the office, 
Sidonius Apollinaris, himself a bishop of the time 
and a man of rank, writes: " If a monk is called to 
be a bishop, he might be as holy as Paul or Anthony, 



200 The Rulers in the New World. 

Hilarius or Macarius; yet would an objection be 
raised whether he would not use his office, not as a 
bishop, but as an abbot. He would be able to entreat 
for souls with the heavenly, but not with the earthly 
judge. The laity would not accommodate themselves, 
as would the clergy, to a monastic discipline. If he 
should be a clergyman, so would jealousy be aroused 
in all the rest ; if a layman, so would they take it ill 
that he came from the laity. He should be capable 
of every embassy ; not once only should he be in the 
service of the city before the king in royal sables, or 
stand before princes in purple cloaks." The bishops 
were the one bond for the whole society ; their elec- 
tion, the only political act of the people. They were 
the " natural protectors and helpers of the poor, the 
prisoners, slaves, and freedmen. They used benefi- 
cence in such great measure as perhaps the world 
never saw again. When the Goths had ravaged South- 
eastern Gaul, Bishop Patiens, of I^yons, distributed 
grain gratuitously, not only in L,yons, but in all the 
cities on the Rhone and the Saone, in Aries, Riez, 
Avignon, Orange, Albi,Valence, Troyes, and Clermont. 
Sidonius Apollinaris strove to mediate between con- 
tending armies, freeing those carried into slavery. 
So did the bishops generally. No merchant went 
through the land to whom was denied an episcopal 
letter of commendation. The Jews knew how to 
prize their worth." It was not strange that, in an 
age of defeat, invasion, and ruin, the rule of the world 
fell into hands so able, characters so disinterested, and 
wills so strong. These were the new rulers of the 
new world. 



Chapter III. 

PROVINCIAL SYNODS, METROPOLITANS, AND 
PATRIARCHS. 

In the sketch of the Roman provincial adminis- 
tration, in the first part of this volume, the meeting 
and functions of the Provincial Assembly for arrang- 
ing matters of taxation was described. This had its 
first and fullest development in Asia Minor. The 
importance of understanding the Roman political ad- 
ministration is seen, not only in the conflict of the 
heathen empire with the Church, and in the state of 
society treated in the fifth part, but especially in re 
spect to the organization of the Christian Church, 
which, in all the gradations above the local society, 
followed closely the imperial model. 

Provincial Synods, or Councils, are first found in 
Asia Minor, after the example of the Administrative 
Council [of the province at the time of the synods 
Montanist and Paschal controversies. They and Metro- 
spread widely through Asia Minor and the P° Iltans 
East, in the period from 160 to 200. They met in the 
spring and fall. They are first found in the West in 
the early part of the third century. They were first 
called to settle controversies, as under Cyprian ; but 
by 250 they have a fixed form in Africa and Rome. 
Bishops alone vote in these assemblies; but other 
clergy may attend. In the first half of the third 
century, the bishops of the provincial capital have a 
precedence over the other bishops of the province. 

201 



202 The Rulers of the New World. 

He convokes the Synod, prepares the business which 
shall come before it, and draws up its decrees. He is 
the superior bishop of the province, and becomes 
metropolitan, or archbishop. The Provincial Synods 
develop an independent Church organization. The 
metropolitans were formally recognized by the Coun- 
cil of Nicsea. It provided that no bishop could be 
consecrated without the consent of his metropolitan. 
Though with no legal right, he came to influence the 
elections, as the Bishop of Alexandria those of Egypt. 
He exercised ecclesiastical superintendence over the 
whole province — the erection of new bishoprics, the 
delimitation of the metropolitan See, the removal of 
a bishop, the power of alienating Church property, 
and the care of the vacant bishoprics. In extreme 
cases, appeal was made to him, when he had the power 
of controlling the provincial bishop without the as- 
sistance of other bishops. He sent synodal letters, or 
accounts of important decisions or proceedings of 
the Councils, to the bishops. He could give or re- 
ceive letters of communion, and publish and carry 
into effect laws enacted either by the emperors, or by 
Councils, relating to the Church. 

The bishops of a province elected and ordained 
their metropolitan without the concurrence of the 
Their metropolitan of any other province. This 
Election. was ^ e approved constitution of the 
Church from Nicsea to Chalcedon, 325-451. After- 
ward, in the East, the election was conditioned by 
the rights of the patriarch. 

In the latter part of the third century, Synods of 
more than one province were called together in cases 



Provincial Synods, 203 

of controversy, as in the controversy concerning the 
Lapsed, or those who had taken part in heathen sac- 
rifices, when were assembled the bishops 
of Africa and Mauritania. So, in the case 
of Paul of Samosata, in 262-268, a Synod of all the 
Syrian bishops was called at Antioch, and invita- 
tions were sent to the Bishops of Egypt and Cappa- 
docia. Groups of provinces were united into prae- 
fectures for purposes of imperial administration. 
These came to have ecclesiastical Synods. At the 
Council of Chalcedon, 451, following and influenced 
by the civil divisions of the empire into dioceses, the 
metropolitans of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Con- 
stantinople, and Rome became patriarchs. By the 
end of this period, the Bishop of Rome had gained a 
certain primacy over the other patriarchs. The Greek 
and Roman Catholic Churches recognize patriarchs 
of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexan- 
dria, thus maintaining a double succession. The 
Syrian, Maronite, and Coptic Churches have patri- 
archs, as have also the Nestorians and the Arme- 
nians. None of these Oriental Churches acknowledge 
the supremacy of the Roman See. 

The organization of the Greek and Oriental 
Churches culminates in the patriarchate. The Church 
of England has the complete episcopal organization, 
with archbishops at its head, who are Metropolitans 
of Armagh and Dublin, of Canterbury and York, 
The various episcopal Churches among the Protest- 
ants, except the Protestant Episcopal Church, which 
follows the Church of England, have the office, func- 
tions, and order of bishops, with no tactual succes- 



204 The Rulers in the New World. 

sion. This is the episcopacy of the first two centu- 
ries. It includes the Lutherans, Moravians, and 
Methodist Episcopalians. 

The Reformed Churches and the Presbyterian 
bodies are governed by Assemblies of presbyters and 
laymen. All clergymen are of equal rank. The In- 
dependents, Congregationalists, and Baptists have no 
gradation of clerical rank or Church superiority, the 
individual Church being the unit and sole authority 
in their organization. Each of these great systems of 
Church polity — the Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Con- 
gregational — can claim some features of the organiza- 
tion of the early Church. Despite all the variety in 
that organization during the first century, it may be 
doubted if there is in existence a Church polity which 
does not either largely add to the organization of the 
Apostolic Church, or contradict the principles or 
usage of the apostles themselves. 



Chapter IV. 

THE PRIMACY OF ROME. 

How did the Bishop of Rome come to have an au- 
thority superior to the other bishops of the Church? 

How did he become Pope and head of the Roman 
Catholic Church ? 

How did he come to claim to be the supreme ruler 
in the Church for all Christendom, and the vicege- 
rent, or representative, of God on earth? 

These questions outline the history and claims of 
the Papacy. The answers to them can not fail to be 
of interest to every Christian. 

The accomplishment of these ends and the defin- 
ing of these claims was a process of centuries ; but it 
depended, first and chiefly, on the political Source of the 
importance of the rule and authority of the Im {£ [J^ 1 * 
city of Rome. That alone explains the See of Rome. 
facts. How great was that dominion, how long in 
preparation, how enduring in structure, will be plain 
to the reader of the opening pages of this volume. 
Without some comprehension of the world-wide and 
age-enduring rule of Rome, there can be no under- 
standing of the existence and authority of the Roman 
Catholic Church. With that clearly in mind, there is 
no mystery in its origin, growth, and predominance. 
Rome was the source of law and government for four 
hundred years over the lands conquered by the Chris- 
tian faith — a territory larger than that of all Europe. 

205 



206 The Rulers in the New World. 

From Rome law was received, and appeals in its admin- 
istration were made, and allegiance rendered, for more 
than the lifetime of ten generations of men. It would 
have been strange if, after the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem, the center of the societies of that Church which 
aimed at universal conquest for our L,ord had been 
at any other place than at the capital of the world. 
That time was at the full-tide of the power and splen- 
dor of the empire. It was the age of the Coliseum. 

The Church of the first generation after the Pas- 
sion and Pentecost looked, as did Paul and the other 
First center a P os tles, to Jerusalem as the mother Church. 
of the church Its fall made necessary another center. An- 

at Jerusalem. tioch might claim tQ be the first Church of 

the Gentile Christians, and Ephesus to have had an 
acknowledged influence during the life of St. John ; 
but neither of them could compare with the metrop- 
olis and capital of the empire, where Jewish and Gen- 
tile Christians were nearer fusion than anywhere else, 
where St. Paul was martyred, and where St. Peter 
was said to have preached and ruled and died with 
him.* 

That Rome was necessarily the center of every 
widespread religious movement in the empire is 
Rome Takes P rove( i by every influential heretic coming 
the Place of to Rome, from Simon Magus to Sabellius. 
erusa em. g o t ^ e g re at Gnostic leaders, Marcion and 
Valentinian, and Theodotus, the author of the error 
for which Paul of Samosata was condemned. The 
causes which drew heretical teachers to Rome would 
make influential the Church which met and overcame 
their teachings, and cast them out of its fold. With 
this great cause, as always in every process of histor- 

*See Appendix, Note A. 



The Primacy of Rome. 207 

ical development, wrought many important minor 
ones. A cause of no small influence was the position 
of the Christian society at Rome. It was early 
founded — probably soon after Pentecost — by some 
Jewish Christians, whose names and share in the 
work are alike unknown. When St. Paul wrote, in 
57, the Church was then strong, influential, and well 
spoken of in all Churches of the Christian faith. The 
next notice we have of the Church is in the epistle of 
Clement, 96, in which he shows how the Roman 
Church interests herself in the affairs of other 
Churches. He gives the judgment and advice of the 
Church in Rome in regard to disorders in the Church 
at Corinth. The Church showed itself liberal, sym- 
pathetic, and interested in intercourse with other 
Churches in the provinces, and equal to the demands 
which her position made upon her. 

The conflict with the Gnostic heresies and Mon- 
tanist error in the second century increased the influ- 
ence of the Church of the largest city where the faith 
of Christ was preached. Not only were Effectofthe 
chiefs of heretical parties busy in Rome, Controver- 
but appeals were made to the Roman Hw^ta^ 
Church by both parties where differences the Position 
arose in the provinces, as in the case of 
the Montanist controversy in Asia Minor. Bishop 
Victor, of Rome, 190-202, endeavored, in the Paschal 
controversy, to cause all the Churches, especially 
those of Asia Minor, to conform to the Roman date 
for celebrating Easter. Irenseus, writing 190, holds 
that " the true faith in the whole Church must be in 
agreement with Rome, because it is the greatest, the 
oldest, and known of all, and founded by the apostles 



208 The Rulers in the New World. 

Peter and Paul, and had preserved the apostolic tradi- 
tion and faith until his time by a succession of 
bishops/ ' 

A check in this progress to a primacy over the 
bishops of the other Churches was experienced at the 
Effect of the c ^ ose °f the second century, in the develop- 
Organization ment and independence of the provincial 

yno s. or g an i za ti on f Synods, and in the theory 
of Tertullian and Cyprian that all bishops, not those 
of the apostolic seats — that is, cities where the 
apostles had lived — only, assure and preserve the 
Christian faith. 

Cyprian taught that the episcopate from its origin 
was one, and all bishops are equal. In each, all are 
represented. The chair of Peter, Bishop of Rome, 
is the symbol of the unity of the episcopate. In the 
case of Paul of Samosata, 273, the heathen Emperor 
Aurelian decided that those were Christians who 
were in communion with the Bishop of Rome. This 
applies to the provincial bishops. 

A third cause was the fact that Rome was the only 

apostolic seat in the West. Her authority, derived 

from the residence and teaching of the apostles, was 

shared with no city west of the Adriatic. 

Rome the «■<-•< a r • 

Only Apos- From her the faith went out to Africa, 
tone Seat in gp a i n an( j Britain, while Irenaeus, born in 

the West, /\ ,,. , ' - -- , . ^ , 

Asia Minor, and ruling the Church m Gaul, 
acknowledged the greatness of the Roman Church. 
The uniqueness of this position was seen in the re- 
lations between the bishops of the East and West. 
When the Synodal decrees were sent from the bishops 
of the East, they were sent to the Bishops of Rome, 
who communicated them to the other Churches of the 




5 > 

D < 

o 2 

< a 

° ft 



The Primacy of Rome. 209 

West. Two most momentous secular changes, the 
removal of the capital from Rome and the barbarian 
invasions, greatly enhanced the position of Rome as 
the mother Church and the superior episcopal seat in 
the West. 

The removal of the capital from Rome to Con- 
stantinople freed the Roman Bishop from the nearness 
and oppression of the imperial power, which proved 
so often injurious, and sometimes fatal, to Removal of 
the occupant of the See of Constantinople. the Ca P ital 

a»vi ri-r^-1 r-i-. 1-1 from Rome to 

The power of the Bishops of Rome had constant!- 
opportunity to develop without the calling nopie. 
to account, dwarfing of prerogative, and pruning of 
claims, which would have limited it, if the imperial 
residence had remained by the Tiber instead of being 
transferred to the Bosphorus. 

The invasions of the barbarians tended to the 
same result. The secular power being humbled or 
overthrown, the conquerors looked with awe and 
reverence at the only possessor of power, Effect of the 
of influence and government, whom their Barbarian 
numbers could not intimidate or their arms om i uest - 
and pillage destroy. The fact that these alien in- 
vaders were of the Arian Creed bound the orthodox or 
Nicaean Christians to the supremacy of the Roman 
See as their patron and protector. In him was pre- 
served the majesty of the Roman name and the au- 
thority of the Roman power. In the person of Leo 
I, the Bishop of Rome acceded to the vacant throne 
of the emperors of the West. Thus the Bishop of 
Rome became the head of Western Christendom, and 
hence of the Roman Catholic Church. 

The progress of the See of Rome to the primacy 
14 



210 The Rulers in the New World, 

is seen in its relations with the bishops of the East. 
There was now the capital of the empire, and apos- 
tolic seats and churches as ancient as 

Influence of _ . 

Theological Rome. The predominance of Rome was 
controver- g rea tly advanced by the theological contro- 
versies of the East. Rome always profited 
by fishing in troubled waters. During the great Arian 
controversy her bishops were the steadfast supporters 
of the orthodox cause. Athanasius found protection 
and support from Julius, 340-346, which kept the 
West firm by his side. The result was at once ap- 
parent. The Synod of Aries, 314, and the Council of 
Nicaea, 325, had not once mentioned any claims of 
the superiority of the Bishop of Rome; but the Coun- 
cil of Sardica, 343, decreed that a bishop condemned 
by a Provincial Council might appeal to Julius, Bishop 
of Rome, who might review the case before judges 
named by him. The Council was a small one of the 
bishops adhering to Athanasius ; and the jurisdiction 
conferred is one of honor and for the present emer- 
gency by an oppressed minority. The Roman bishops, 
however, claimed it gave a general and direct juris- 
diction over the whole Church, and falsely ascribe it 
to the great Council of Nicaea. The first Council of 
Constantinople, 381, however, gave Constantinople a 
place beside Rome as one of the patriarchates. The 
bishops of North Africa were in dispute in regard to 
appeals to Rome with its bishops from 418 to 432. 
The Canons of Sardica, falsely ascribed to Nicaea, 
were appealed to in order to sustain the claims of 
Rome. The African bishops investigated the case, 
denounced the false claim, and refused the right to 
appeal. Nevertheless, Chrysostom, 403-407, appealed 



The Primacy of Rome. 211 

to Rome from the arrogance of Theophilus and the 
tyranny of the emperor. So both parties in the con- 
troversies of Nestorius and Eutyches appealed to the 
occupant of the Roman See. Yet the Bishops of 
Rome have not always been orthodox. Victor, Zephy- 
rinus, and Callistus, 190-222, were Modalistic Monar- 
chians. L,iberius, 358, signed a heterodox creed at 
the command of the Arian emperor. Zosimus, 417, 
favored Pelagius, while the occupant of no See ever 
made a more pitiable exhibition of obsequiousness 
and tergiversation than Vigilius, 540-555. 

The extension of the hierarchical constitution, 
through the creation of metropolitans and patriarchs, 
favored the advancement of the Roman Bishop. In 
the West, it made him the supreme eccle- Effect of th 
siastical authority. In the East, after Chal- Metropolitan 
cedon, 451, Alexandria was overthrown Constitution - 
and Antioch discredited by the Nestorian heresy, while 
Constantinople, with no apostolic tradition, and ham- 
pered by the imperial authority, was no match for the 
growing power of Rome. We will see this power 
suffering defeats, but making steady advance toward 
the recognition of permanent authority and primacy 
in the great Popes of the last two centuries of this 
period. 

The list of the Bishops of Rome for the first two 
centuries presents only four L,atin names. The mem- 
bership and officers of the Church and the language 
of its worship were alike largely Greek. The Chris- 
tian religion had not yet won the ruling minds of the 
great governing race of the ancient world. Indeed, 
there is no name of note in the list from St. Clement, 
100-109, to that of Innocent I, 402-417. While Ath- 



212 The Rulers in the New World. 

anasius, Chrysostom, Cyprian, Ambrose, and Augus- 
tine were making forever illustrious the Sees they 
Early Bishops ruled, no great words or work or character 
of Rome. CO mes from Rome. While great schools at 
Alexandria, Csesarea, and Antioch were producing 
scholars, authors, and eminent prelates, but two au- 
thors of any note are recorded in the Roman annals, 
and they were the schismatic Hippolytus and Nova- 
tian; for while Jerome was a Roman presbyter the 
work by which he is remembered was done after he 
left Rome. If there is no single great name in these 
centuries in the history of the Roman Church, in the 
last two of our period, 400-600, there were three 
great men who were most able ecclesiastical rulers, and 
obtained and secured the primacy of the Roman See 
in all the lands of the West. The first I^eo and the 
first Gregory were the ablest men of their times, and 
laid the foundations for that supremacy of the Roman 
Church which endured until the Reformation. 

Innocent entertained the appeal of Chrysostom 
against Theophilus of Alexandria, and endeavored to 
arrange a Council of Bishops to secure justice. He 
innocent i, inclined against Pelagius. During his pon- 
403-417. tificate Rome was taken by Alaric, though 
in his absence. He encouraged celibacy. By his en- 
lightened rule he won many heathen to the Church. 
He had genius for administration. He strongly urged 
the claims of Rome. He wrote thus to the Council 
of Carthage, 417: " Whatever was transacted in the 
provinces — let them be ever so remote — should not 
be considered as ratified until it had come to the 
knowledge of the Apostolic Chair ; so that by its en- 
tire authority every just decision might be confirmed, 



The Primacy of Rome. 213 

and other Churches, as the pure streams should be 
distributed from their original, undisturbed source 
through the different countries of the world, might 
learn from this Church what they had to ordain, 
whom they had to pronounce innocent, and whom to 
reject as irreclaimably wrong." These claims were 
rejected in North Africa; but the time came when 
they could be made good. 

Leo I, born about 390, was a man of lofty am- 
bition and commanding intellect. He was highly cul- 
tivated, according to the standards of that time, but 
knew no Greek. He came in conflict with the Mani- 
chseans, and gave them choice of conversion or banish- 
ment. He was distinguished above all his Leo I, 
predecessors for his preaching. From his 440-461. 
short, pithy sermons are derived many of the lessons 
found in the Roman Breviary. Ninety-six of his ser- 
mons and one hundred and ninety-three of his letters 
have come down to us. After the complete destruc- 
tion of Aquileia in 452 by Attila, King of the Huns, 
Leo met him, and persuaded him to turn back from 
an attack on Rome. He was less successful with Gen- 
seric in 455 ; but he showed equal courage, and mitL 
gated in some degree the horrors of the worst sack 
and pillage Rome has known. At the Council of 
Chalcedon, 451, Leo's letter to Flavian, in which he 
set forth the doctrine of the two natures in the one 
person of our Lord, became the basis of the Creed of 
the Council and of the Church. But Leo's greatness 
stands out as the " representative of the imperial dig- 
nity and severity of old Rome ; and he is the true 
founder of the mediaeval Papacy in all its magnificence 
of conception and uncompromising strength.'* He 



214 The Rulers m the New World. 

was the first Pope. What were the grounds of his 
conception of the authority of the Roman See will 
be given nearly in his own words. His chief thought 
is that he is Peter's representative. This teaching 
had first been broached by Stephen, 253-257; it had 
not been forgotten by Damasus, 366-385, Siricius, 
385-395, or Innocent; but L,eo first made it of per- 
manent influence. It is the one theological basis for 
the Roman supremacy, and answers our third question 
in regard to the claims of Rome. Leo says: "The 
love of the whole Church recognizes Peter himself in 
his See, and Peter's care still rules in all parts of the 
Church. " Peter's successor is all he was, whose 
special commission it was to " strengthen his breth- 
ren" and "to feed Christ's sheep." More than this, 
"Christ willed that his sacred gift (the spreading of 
the gospel) should belong to the office of all the 
apostles only so far as is consistent with his having 
endowed the blessed Peter, chief of all the apostles, 
with it in a supreme manner, and his having willed 
that from him, as from a head, his gifts should flow 
out into the whole body, so that he should know that 
he has no share in the Divine mystery who has dared 
to retire from the solid foundations of Peter." And 
moreover, " though there are many bishops and pas- 
tors, yet Peter should govern them all by his peculiar 
office, whom Christ governs by his supreme author- 
ity. Thus great and wonderful is the share in its 
own power which the Divine condescension assigned 
to this man." Rome is mightier than when at the 
head of the empire. " They [the apostles Peter and 
Paul] it is who have brought thee [Rome] to such a 
height of glory, that as a holy race, an elect people, a 



The Primacy of Rome, 215 

royal and sacerdotal state, raised to be head of the 
world through the Holy See of the blessed Peter, thou 
shouldest rule with a broader sway in the divine re- 
ligion than by thine earthly dominion." 

Canon Gore sums up tersely the points of Leo's 
theory: " 1. Whatever Peter was among the apostles, 
that the Pope is among the bishops. 2. The statement of 
Pope is not patriarch, or chief among pa- Leo ' s c,aims - 
triarchs, but is in immediate relation to the whole 
Church East and West, similar to the relation of the 
capital to the whole Roman Empire. 3. Peter is a 
mediator between Christ and the other apostles. He 
is the only immediate recipient of the sacerdotal 
grace; and what the others receive, they receive 
through him. If this be true, then separation from 
Rome is separation from grace, and therefore from 
Christ." Of course, there is no support for such 
teaching in the Holy Scriptures, and the example of 
St. Paul at Antioch is in evident disproof. But Leo's 
theory of mediatorship was consistent and thorough- 
going. He says: "Indulgence of God can not be 
obtained except by sacerdotal [priestly] supplication." 

His practice corresponded with his theory. He 
wrote to the Ulyrian bishops "that on himself as the 
successor of the apostle Peter, on whom, Leo's 
as a reward of his faith, the Lord had con- Practice, 
ferred the primacy of the apostolic rank, and on whom 
he had firmly grounded the universal Church, was 
devolved the care of all the Churches, to participate 
in which he invited. his colleagues, the other bishops." 
He succeeded in securing an edict from Valentinian 
III, 445, "that nothing should be done in Gaul, con- 
trary to the ancient usage, without the authority of 



216 The Rulers in the New World. 

the Bishop of Rome ; and the decree of the Apos- 
tolic See should henceforth be law." 

Leo's greatest triumph was the acceptance of his 

teaching as the basis of the Creed of Chalcedon ; but 

Leo and the with this victory came a sore defeat. The 

Chricedon, twenty-eighth canon of this Council, fol- 

451. lowing the canon of the first Council of 
Constantinople, 381, made the city on the Bosphorus 
equal in rank with Rome, and enlarged the limits of 
her patriarchate. This shattered Leo's theory and 
claim of universal and immediate appellate jurisdic- 
tion. He contended against it, but it remained in 
force in the East. 

Leo's greatest work was the establishment of the 
right of bishops, in cases of importance, to appeal 
from their metropolitans to the Pope at Rome. This 
is the corner-stone of the Papacy, and is rejected by 
the Greek, Oriental, and English Churches, who re- 
tain the constitutions of metropolitans and patriarchs. 

Leo does not refer to the Virgin Mary ; mentions 
relics but once ; sanctions prayers to the saints, but 
mentions only Sts. Peter, Paul, and Laurence. He 
makes no allusion to confession in any sacramental 
sense. 

His conduct in controversy has been denounced 
as " imperious, precipitate, unjust, and not overscru- 
character pulous ;" and his style characterized as 
of Leo. « business-like, severe, terse, and epigram- 
matic." He was sincerely pious, modest in reference 
to himself, and with himself severe. His whole life 
was given to the aggrandizement of the See of Rome, 
which he was convinced was the only safeguard of 
Society, the Church, and the faith. In ability to think 



The Primacy of Rome, 217 

and to rule, no greater name is found among the 
Popes of Rome. 

The years following Leo's pontificate were stormy 
ones for the Roman See. On account of a quarrel 
with the Bishop of Constantinople, com- prom Leo to 
munion was broken off between the East Qre « or y '• 
and West from 484-519. A few years later, the 
armies of Justinian came into Italy. After twenty 
years of rapine, desolation, and conquest, the Popes 
were little more independent than the Bishops of Con- 
stantinople. No bishop of the imperial capital ever 
showed greater compliance or baseness than Vigilius, 
540-555. Under his four successors — Pelagius I, 
John III, Benedict I, and Pelagius II, 555-590 — the 
Papacy reached the lowest depths of degradation and 
dependence. From this condition it was raised by 
Gregory I, who realized Leo's theories in practice, 
and from whom directly descends the Papacy of the 
Middle Ages. 

Gregory I, called the Great, was born, probably, 
at Rome, about 540. His father, Gordianus, possessed 
senatorial rank. Pope Felix II is said to Gregory 
have been his great-grandfather. His the Great. 
mother, Sylvia, was remarkable for her mental endow- 
ments. Both she and two of his father's sisters, Tar- 
sillia and iEmiliana, have been canonized as saints. 
He was educated for the law. When about thirty 
years of age, he was chosen prcztor urbanus by the 
citizens, a position he held for three years (571-574), 
discharging his duties with great pomp and magnifi- 
cence. Deeply affected by the death of his father, he 
retired from public life, and gave his whole fortune to 
pious uses. He built six monasteries in Italy, and 



2i8 77/2; Rulers in the New World. 

one in Rome, dedicated to St. Andrew, in which he 
embraced the Benedictine rule, and devoted his whole 
time to works of charity and the exercise of fasting, 
meditation, and prayer. He became abbot of the 
monastery in 575, and afterward was Papal repre- 
sentative at the court of Constantinople for three 
years. In 590, he was chosen Pope. He declined, 
but was confirmed by the emperor. As Bishop of 
Rome, he had charge of the Churches and ecclesias- 
tical interests of the city. As metropolitan, he had 
the oversight of the seven suffragan, or later cardi- 
nal, bishops in the neighborhood of Rome. As pa- 
triarch, he ruled over Central and Southern Italy and 
the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. In addi- 
tion, with L,eo, he claimed appellate jurisdiction over 
the whole Church. 

Gregory was a great administrator — one of the 
very greatest of a great race. Eight hundred and 
Work forty of his letters remain to attest the 
of Gregory vigor of his mind and the variety of his 
occupations and responsibilities. During his pontifi- 
cate, the Lombards were checked ; discipline enforced 
in Italy, France, England, Spain, and Africa ; pagan- 
ism, Arianism, and Donatism weakened. He saw re- 
alized the desire of his heart for forty years, in 596, 
in the mission of the monk, Augustine, for the con- 
version of England. He was the inventor of the 
Church doctrine of purgatory, and the modern Roman 
teaching concerning masses and transubstantiation. 
The present order of the mass is almost entirely due 
to his arrangement. He gave attention to sacred mu- 
sic and primary education. Not slow to assert the 
authority of the Papal Chair, he was far from claim- 



The Primacy of Rome. 219 

ing the titles and privileges of his successors. In his 
protest against the use of the title of Universal Bishop 
he says: "The apostle Peter was the first member of 
the universal Church. As for Paul, Andrew, and 
John, they were only the heads of particular con- 
gregations; but all were members of the Church 
under one head, and none would ever be called uni- 
versal." 

In his administration as patriarch, he paid partic- 
ular attention to the choice of bishops. The candi- 
date should be already in holy orders ; not ( a) choice 
bound to any secular office ; free from of Bish °P s 
bodily defects ; of good life and conversation ; well- 
versed in the Holy Scriptures, especially the Psalms; 
benevolent and charitable ; not a youth, or one who 
had married a second wife or a widow, or who had 
young children. If suitably qualified, he was to be 
chosen from the clergy he was to rule. The use of 
money or influence in the elections was strongly pro- 
hibited. Finally, Gregory reserved the right of con- 
firmation to himself. 

While he insisted on his rights of supervision and 
strict discipline over bishops and metropolitans, he 
was equally careful to respect theirs. He (b) his Ad- 
writes to Dominicus of Carthage in 592 : ministration 

„^ , . . , . in Reference 

"But as to what your fraternity has writ- to the 
ten about ecclesiastical privileges, have no Bishops, 
doubt whatever about this, that as we defend our own 
rights, so we preserve those of every single Church. 
I neither grant to any one, through favor, more than 
he has a claim to ; nor, through ambition, derogate 
from the just rights of any ; but I desire to honor 
my brethren in all respects, but that each one should 



220 The Rulers in the New World. 

be so honored that his rights be not opposed to those 
of another.' ' 

Gregory took great interest in the condition of the 
cleigy. He held that "bad priests are the cause of 
(c) The the people's ruin ;" that " what is a fault in 
ciergy. a layman, is a crime in a clergyman;" and 
" that a clergyman, corrupt within, can not long stand 
in relation to the world outside." He forbade the 
ordination of any one in public office, civil or mil- 
itary. Wandering clergymen were called back to 
their work. He urged upon all the supreme duty of 
aiding the poor and oppressed. " In all the clergy, 
he required strict celibacy; they were to have no 
women in their houses but mothers, sisters, or wives 
married before ordination, from whom they were to 
live separately." 

As the first monk who became Pope, he had great 

solicitude for the condition of those following the 

monastic life. To an abbot, he writes : 

(d) Monks. „ A , . ,...''« 

"As the ceaseless remissness of thy de- 
ceased predecessor saddened us, so thy care rejoices 
us. Restrain, therefore, those who are committed to 
thee from gluttony, pride, avarice, vain discourse, and 
all uncleanness. In which correction, know that this 
order is to be observed, that thou love the persons, 
but persecute the vices, lest, shouldst thou act other- 
wise, correction pass into cruelty, and thou ruin those 
thou desirest to amend." He ordained that no man 
was to become a monk under eighteen years of age; 
two years of probation were always to be required 
(Benedict required but one), and from soldiers three; 
no married person was to receive the vows, unless 
both man and wife were willing to embrace the mo- 



The Primacy of Rome. 221 

nastic life ; not even an abbot was to leave his con- 
vent except on urgent occasions, and no one ever 
alone; no monk or nun was to retain any private 
possession ; no young woman was to be made an ab- 
bess ; no woman was to be " veiled " (finally and irrev- 
ocably consecrated to virginity) under sixty years of 
age — (forty appears to have been the previous limit 
fixed by the Councils.) He was careful to see that 
monastic communities were provided with endow- 
ments, and to protect them in the possession of such 
as had been given them by bequest or otherwise. 
He contributed largely from the revenues of "the 
patrimony " for this purpose. 

The care and increase of this patrimony was an 
unceasing object of his solicitude. The See of Rome 
had large possessions, constituting what , e) Care o| 
was called the "Patrimony of St. Peter," "thePatri- 
not only in Italy and the adjoining islands, mon y« ' 
but also in remoter parts, including Illyria, Gaul, Dal- 
matia, and even Africa and the East. In regard to 
the possessions of the Church in Italy, Mr. Bryce 
says : " Ever since the restriction of the Western 
Empire had emancipated the ecclesiastical potentate 
from secular control, the first and most abiding object 
of Gregory's schemes and prayers had been the ac- 
quisition of territorial wealth in the neighborhood of 
the capital. He had, indeed, a sort of justification ; 
for Rome, a city with neither trade nor industry, was 
crowded with poor, for whom it devolved upon the 
bishop to provide." Thus was laid the foundation for 
wealth which led to power, and, one hundred and 
fifty years later, to that temporal dominion which 
ceased only in 1870. These estates of the entire pat- 



222 The Rulers in the New World. 

rimony were managed by officers called " rulers of 
the patrimony" and " defensores," to whom Gregory 
continually wrote, directing them about the manage- 
ment of the farms and the protection of the peasants. 
In this work, he showed a genius for administration 
more minute and not inferior to Leo's. The reve- 
nues of the " patrimony " were divided according to 
custom in the West — in equal parts to the bishops, the 
clergy, the buildings and service of the Church, and 
to the poor. 

Gregory was unbounded in his .charities. A great 

part of the population of Rome depended on them. 

Daily, when he sat down to dinner, a por- 

(f) Charities. J ' , . . ' r w 

tion was sent to the poor at his door. He 
had the poor and infirm searched out in every street, 
and kept a large book for the names of the objects of 
his bounty. 

What difficulties he fought against in the closing 
years of his work, and yet how untiring and success- 
Last Days ful he was in its performance, his letters 

of Gregory. s \± OWt I n 6 00j h e writes to EulogiuS of 

Alexandria : " In the last year, I have received your 
letter, but have been unable to answer it until now, 
owing to the excess of my illness. For nearly two 
years I have been confined to my bed, and afflicted 
with such pains from gout that I have hardly been 
able to rise for three hours' space on festivals to cele- 
brate mass. I am soon compelled, by excess of pain, 
to lie down again, and seek relief by groaning. My 
pain is sometimes alleviated, and sometimes intense ; 
but never so alleviated as to leave me, nor so intense 
as to kill me. Hence I am daily dying, but never 
die." Writing to Theodelinda, Queen of the Lorn- 



The Primacy of Rome. 223 

bards, in 604, he says : " Not only are we unable to 
dictate ; we can not even rise to speak ; as your mes- 
sengers, who found us well when they came, have 
left us in the utmost danger." The indefatigable and 
dauntless spirit left this home of pain, March 12, 604. 

In personal appearance, Gregory was of medium 
height. The expression of his countenance was 
mild ; his features were regular ; his com- Gregory's 
plexion swarthy and fresh. He had a high Appearance. 
forehead, with dark hair, nose slightly aquiline, lips 
thick and ruddy, and his beard somewhat tawny and 
of moderate length. 

Gregory had an excessive preference for monastic 
and ascetic forms of life, and the superstitions of the 
age in regard to miracles and relics. He Gregory's 
was sometimes too courtly in his address character 
to rulers, the most lamentable instance of which was 
his letter to the cruel usurper Phocas. " In nature 
and bearing he was singularly tolerant, liberal, and 
kindly;" in administration, considerate yet firm — 
never harsh or domineering. 

The use of the pallium was introduced in confirm- 
ing the election of bishops, and so strengthening the 
power of Rome, 543-595- ? he pallium ThePaUium 
was a narrow band, which surrounded the 
neck, and hung down before and behind, like a let- 
ter Y. It was made of white wool, ornamented with 
four dark-purple crosses. It was sent from Rome by 
the Pope, and no election was valid which was not 
confirmed by the receipt of this gift. This made the 
entire episcopacy of the West dependent on the Ro- 
man See, and is the corner-stone of the constitution 
and administration of the Roman Catholic Church. 



224 The Rulers in the New World. 

Two events beyond this period were necessary to 
the development of the Papacy of the Middle Ages. 
Conquests of One, the conquest of the Saracens, which 
the Saracens, destroyed the patriarchates of Jerusalem, 
Antioch, and Alexandria, limited the development 
and growth of Constantinople, and so removed all 
rivalry, if not resistance, of the Churches of the 
Orient. On the other hand, the life-and-death strug- 
gle of Christendom for existence in Africa, Spain, 
France, and Italy made helpful the centralization of 
authority and discipline in Rome ; and the conversion 
of the Teutonic nations contributed to the same 
result. 

The final step, and the one on which the Papacy 
of the Middle Ages rested, was not taken until "the 
"Forged 'Forged Decretals' secured it its temporal 
Decretals." suzerainty, the immunity of its priesthood 
in the superior ecclesiastical tribunals, and the tre- 
mendous prerogative of excommunication and inter- 
dict." 

The Papacy was the slow-growing development of 
the hierarchical constitution of the Church. The 
Causes of the s y stem °f bishops, archbishops, and patri- 
Deveiopment archs seemed to require a head to complete 
of the Papacy, g. and secure its unity This develop- 
ment also represents the results of personal ambition 
and fraud. From the forged date of the Sardican 
Canon to the Forged Decretals and donation of Con- 
stantine, through the Middle Ages, fraud has been a 
powerful element in the establishment of the Papal 
claims. 

However beneficial such a centralized authority 
was, in some respects, to the life and civilization of 



The Primacy of Rome. 225 

the Middle Ages, we should not forget that it ren- 
dered necessary the separation of the Greek and Ro- 
man Churches, and hence the division of Christen- 
dom in the face of a powerful Mohammedanism, 
which was the crowning misfortune of the Crusades, 
and caused the loss of Constantinople to Christen- 
dom ; and that it rendered necessary the great Refor- 
mation before the Middle Ages could give way to 
modern times. It is to-day a survival of an outworn 
part in the life of the Church and of Christian civili- 
zation. Its claims, both political and ecclesiastical, 
are as anachronistic and impossible of realization as 
its infallibility is incredible. 

15 



Chapter V. 

THE CLERGYo 

The development of the life and work of the 
clergy and their position in the Church, the State, 
and society was determined by the action of three 
forces — the theoretic ideal of the office, the organiza- 
tion and discipline of the Church, and its legal estab- 
lishment by the State. 

Though there were special officers from the first in 
the Church, these never received spiritual gifts to the 
exclusion of the rest of the Church, nor were they 
The Growth cnanne l s through which the grace neces- 
of the sacer- sary to a Christian life came to the body of 
dotal ideal b e ii everS) nor we re they widely sundered 
from them. The consciousness of this general priest- 
hood of believers remained long in the Church. Ter- 
tullian says: "Are not we laymen priests? Where 
three are, a Church is, although they be laymen. For 
each individual lives by his own faith; nor is there 
exception of persons with God." Also Origen says: 
"All Christians are priests; not merely or pre-eminently 
the office-bearers, but all according to the measure of 
their knowledge and their services in the kingdom of 
God." On the other hand, Clement, 96, quotes the 
Jewish priests in the Old Testament as a type and 
analogy of the Christian ministry. This was a favor- 
ite parallel with those who wished to exalt the clergy 
above the laity. In the third century, especially after 
the overthrow of Montanism, there came into promi- 
226 



The Clergy. 227 

nence the idea of the Christian minister as a sacer- 
dotal priest. This was favored by the increasing com- 
parison of the Christian worship with the heathen 
mysteries. The sacrificial idea was first set forth 
fully by Cyprian, and with emphasis, as a fundamental 
distinction, by Augustine. The development of this 
doctrine is shown in the next part of this work, which 
treats of Christian worship. The third element in 
the growth of this theory of the office of the clergy 
was the predominance of the ascetic and monastic 
ideal of the Christian life. Through this influence 
the clergy were expected to separate themselves from 
the world and from the life of the home. 

The growth of the Church, the increase of its 
functions, and the power of the hierarchical develop- 
ment caused a corresponding multiplication of clerical 
offices. By the side of the bishop, the church Or- 
presbyters, and deacons, came into being sanization 
the minor orders of the clergy, which be- pij„e. Minor 
came very numerous in the large cities. Orders. 
These were the sub-deacons, through the division of 
the work of the deacons ; the lectors , those who read 
the Holy Scriptures; the exorcists, those who had 
care of the spiritually sick, and repeated over them 
the prayers of the Church; the acoiyths, who were 
the personal companions of the bishops, and who 
rendered personal service to the clergy ; the ostiaries, 
the doorkeepers, who saw that no suspicious persons 
entered the places of Christian worship, and watched 
over the separation of the catechumens and penitents 
in the services of the Church. Both of the latter were 
from analogous officers in the heathen temples. By 
260 most Churches in Rome and the West had these 



228 The Rulers in the New World. 

lower orders. The development in the East was in- 
dependent and not so early. The Church in Rome, 
under Cornelius, 251-253, had in its clergy forty-six 
presbyters, seven deacons, seven sub-deacons, forty- 
two acolyths, fifty-two exorcists, lectors, and ostiaries. 
Fifteen hundred widows, sick, and poor were cared 
for by the Churches, which fifty years later were forty 
in number. After the establishment of the Church 
by Constantine, not only did the numbers of the 
clergy greatly increase, but there were added two 
lower grades, not orders, of clerical service — the para- 
bolani, those who cared for and ministered to the sick 
for the Church ; and the copialcz, or fossores, those 
who buried the dead. These formed a kind of guild, 
under the control of the bishop. Their number was 
often increased to augment his power, and was not 
seldom limited by law. The limit at Alexandria of 
the parabolani was 600; at Constantinople, 1,100. 
For the care of the property of the Church were cre- 
ated the offices of stewards, treasurers, secretaries, 
legal advisers, and keepers of the archives. These 
positions were not necessarily, but often, filled by the 
clergy. The increase in the numbers and wealth of 
the Church led to the creation of the office of arch- 
deacon. He was the right hand of the bishop in the 
care of church property, in his judicial administra- 
tion, in the supervision of the lower clergy, and in 
the appointment of presbyters and deacons. Thus 
he came to have great influence. The character of 
the administration of the bishop often depended on 
the ability and piety, or the reverse, of the arch- 
deacon. The archpresbyter never came to have the 
same importance, but he represented the bishop in 



The Clergy. 229 

his absence. Comparatively few of the clergy, and 
almost none in the West, could be educated in the 
theological schools of Alexandria, Caesarea, Antioch, 
Edessa, or Nisibis. They were therefore trained in 
the lower orders for the diaconate, and in that office 
for the order of presbyters. In this training and 
promotion through the grades of the clergy was 
limited the choice of the people, and formed the 
higher clergy. L,ater the monasteries often became 
schools from which were taken the clergy. Deacons 
were not ordained before twenty-five years of age, 
nor presbyters before the age of thirty. 

As the ascetic and later monastic ideal came to 
prevail in the Church, the theory gained ground that 
the clergy should not marry. In the third century 
this began to be applied to the bishops, celibacy of 
The small Spanish Council of Elvira, 305, the Cler *y. 
pronounced against a married clergy ; the great Coun- 
cil^ Nicaea, 325, refused to take such action. The 
Council of Gangra, 360, pronounced against those 
who refused to take part in divine service celebrated 
by married priests. But the usage was for marriage 
to be allowed which took place before ordination, 
but none to men in orders, hence no second mar- 
riages. The Council of Ancyra, 314, allowed a 
deacon to marry, if he had stated his intention to do 
so at his ordination. From about this time dates 
the Greek usage that deacons and priests may marry 
before ordination, but not a second time; bishops 
must be and remain unmarried. In the West, the 
action of Siricius, Bishop of Rome, 385, in issuing a 
decretal (letter) against a married clergy — that is, 
deacons, presbyters, and bishops — forms the turning- 



230 The Rulers in the New World. 

point. This view was confirmed by the Synods of 
Carthage, 401 ; Turin, 401; and Orange, 441; and by 
the influence of bishops like Augustine, who lived 
together with their clergy in a house in common. 
Leo I included sub-deacons in the prohibition. The 
popes were zealous for clerical celibacy as freeing 
the ministry from the cares and complications of the 
world; yet there were married bishops from 350 to 
410 such as Hilary of Poitiers, the father of Gregory 
Nazianzen and Synesius of Cyrene. Vigilantius, 
about 400, appeals to bishops who chose only married 
men for deacons. But the monastic ideal prevailed; 
the unmarried clergy were more dependent and pliant 
to the commands of the Popes and bishops, and were 
on this account as well preferred. 

Those who had led an immoral life could not be 
ordained, or those who had married twice, or who 
had married a sister-in-law, or a niece, or those who 
Exclusion ^ad been baptized when ill. Also actors, 
from dancers, pantomimes, soldiers, and slaves 
previous to emancipation, were excluded. 
The clergy were forbidden to follow secular callings 
except in cases of necessity. They were not to 
undertake the affairs of others, or to do business on 
commission ; nor were they allowed to take interest, 
which was accounted usury. They were also forbid- 
den to assume any civil office. 

Through its establishment by the State, the 
The Effect of Church became a legal institution, with 
the Union of w a i claims upon her members, and sup- 

the Church ' « \ * r , 

with the ported by the power and resources of the 

state. State. The clergy were directly supported 

from the treasury of the State. The endowments 



The Clergy. 231 

and temple property were often given to the Church, 
and also money from the communal treasury, for the 
erection of church edifices. The emperor made pres- 
ents of land, etc., to the Church. She was also au- 
thorized to receive gifts, bequests, and fees. 

The clergy, like the heathen priests, were exempt 
from all personal public service. They were also re- 
lieved from all municipal offices and the burdens of 
the Decurionate. Hence, as many of the 

Exemptions. 

latter sought to enter the ranks of the 
clergy, it became a law that every one inscribed in 
the list of the decurions must resign his property be- 
fore becoming a clergyman. All Church and clerical 
property was exempt from extraordinary taxes and 
compulsory services. The clergy were also free 
from all ordinary legal processes, and had laws and 
courts of their own. 

The bishops exercised judicial authority through 
courts of arbitration. Even the heathen preferred 
these to the ordinary civil courts. They received 
police jurisdiction in certain cases, and had super- 
vision of all moral questions. Bishops also had the 
right of intercession in the cases of condemned 
criminals. 

The right of asylum for those accused of crime 
was granted to the Christian Churches, as formerly to 
the heathen temples. This was a temporary refuge 
from popular rage or private vengance, but was not 
designed to withdraw the transgressor from the 
course of civil justice. Heresy now became a crime 
against the State, and false teachers were liable to 
civil penalties. The first to be so executed were 
Priscillian and his companion, by the usurper Maxi- 



232 The Rulers in the New World. 

mus, 385. The act was denounced by Ambrose, St. 
Martin of Tours, and the leading Christian bishops ; 
but in the following centuries the Church and its 
rulers seemed wholly to lose sight of the rights of 
conscience. 

Was this development normal and justified? 
Such was the development, sketched in these chap- 
ters, from the Church of the earlier generations of 
Christians, which, with its spirituality, simplicity, sac- 
rifice, and abounding love, appeals to every Christian 
heart. The Church came into union with the State, 
and was often stronger than any civil or secular 
power. It had an elaborate and thoroughly-disci- 
plined hierarchy, whose members in the West were 
forbidden to marry, and were organized under a mon- 
archical papal rule. It came to be an institution of 
vast wealth, with an army of servitors, clerical and 
monastic, whose prelates had often all the pride and 
power, and sometimes even violence, of the secular 
princes. 

We are compelled to ask, Was this development, 
which presents to us a Church as far removed from 
that of the first century as from the extremest form 
of Protestantism, necessary, or was it designed by 
her Lord? Granting that growth and development 
were necessary, does that justify all that took place? 
Are there any principles by which we can judge 
whether a course of development is right, normal, and 
beneficent, or the reverse? History is a world judg- 
ment ; but just because it is a judgment, it is not a 
justification of all that has been done in the world or 
in the Church. Historic existence is not historic jus- 
tification, but may be the exact opposite. History 



The Clergy. 233 

shows the development of institutions, but does not 
justify their means of growth or their existence. The 
principles underlying the office of the Christian min- 
istry, and which should control its development and 
its relations to the Church, have never been better 
stated than by Bishop Lightfoot, the ablest scholar 
England has given the Christian Church in this 
century, and which forms a basis for the reunion of 
Christendom more Scriptural, spiritual, and stable 
than any decrees of Popes or Councils. 

"The kingdom of Christ, not being a kingdom of 
this world, is not limited by the restrictions which 
fetter other societies, political or religious. The WeaI of 
It is, in the fullest sense, free, comprehen- the christian 
sive, universal. It displays this character, Ministr y- 
not only in the acceptance of all comers who seek ad- 
mission, irrespective of race, caste, or sex, but also in 
the instruction and treatment of those who are al- 
ready its members. It has no sacred days or seasons, 
no special sanctuaries ; because every time and every 
place alike are holy. It interposes no sacrificial tribe 
or class between God and man, by whose interven- 
tion alone God is reconciled and man is forgiven. 
Each individual member holds personal communion 
with the Divine Head. To him immediately he is 
responsible, and from him directly he obtains pardon 
and draws strength. 

" The influence of this idea on the moral and 
spiritual growth of the individual believer is too plain 
to require any comment ; but its social effects may 
call for a passing remark. It will hardly be denied, 
I think, by those who have studied the history of 
modern civilization with attention, that his concep- 



234 The Rulers in the New World. 

tion of the Christian Church has been mainly instru- 
mental in the emancipation of the degraded and op- 
pressed, in the removal of the artificial barriers be- 
tween class and class, and in the diffusion of a general 
philanthropy, untrammeled by the fetters of any party 
or race ; in short, that to it mainly must be attributed 
the most important advantages which constitute the 
superiority of modern over ancient societies. Con- 
sciously or unconsciously, the idea of a universal 
priesthood, of the religious equality of all men— 
which, though not untaught before, was first embod- 
ied in the Church of Christ — has worked, and is 
working, untold blessings in political institutions and 
in social life. But the careful student will also ob- 
serve that the idea has hitherto been very imperfectly 
apprehended; that, throughout the history of the 
Church it has been struggling for recognition, at 
most times discerned in some of its aspects, but at 
all times wholly ignored in others ; and that, there- 
fore, the actual results are a very inadequate measure 
of its efficacy, if only it could assume due prominence, 
and were allowed free scope in action. 

" This, then, is the Christian ideal : a holy season, 
extending the whole year round; a temple confined 
only to the limits of the habitable world; a priest- 
hood co-extensive with the human race. 

44 So it was with the Christian priesthood. For 
communicating instruction, and for preserving public 
order ; for conducting religious worship, and for dis- 
pensing social charities, it became necessary to ap- 
point special officers. But the priestly functions and 
privileges of the Christian people were never re- 
garded as transferred, or even delegated, to these 



The Clergy. 235 

officers. They are called stewards, or messengers of 
God, servants or ministrants of the Church, and the 
like ; but the sacerdotal title is never once conferred 
upon them. The only priests under the gospel, des- 
ignated as such in the New Testament, are the saints — 
the members of the Christian brotherhood. . . . 
As individuals, all Christians are priests alike ; as 
members of a corporation, they have their several and 
distinct offices. The similitude of the human body, 
where each limb or organ performs its own functions, 
and the health and growth of the whole frame are 
promoted by the harmonious but separate working of 
every part, was chosen by St. Paul to represent the 
progress and operation of the Church." 



%xt Frwrilr. 



WORSHIP AND DISCIPLINE. 

237 



Chapter I. 

WORSHIP OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 

The conquests of Christianity were the conquests 
of religious conceptions and ideas which the modern 
world esteems as superior to those of pa- influence of 
ganism ; and the Christian, as the revela- Worsh, P ln 

• r k i r , - atv. theDevelop- 

tion of God for man s salvation. These men t of the 
conceptions and ideas became incarnate in church. 
the historic life of Jesus, who was presented as very 
God and very man, and so the author of redemption. 
The Christianity of the early centuries was based on 
the incarnation, which alone assured complete recon- 
ciliation of man with God. Those receiving these 
truths and ideals necessarily separated themselves 
from the heathen life and society around them, and 
from a society with a different social code and a dif- 
ferent aim from that into which they had been born. 
The struggle of that society for union, cohesion, de- 
velopment, and predominance, under a stronger and 
more centralized form of rule, has been shown in the 
last chapters. The victory of Christianity was the 
victory of a firmly-consolidated Church. Christian- 
ity, as it came in contact with the unformed elements 
of social and political order which were taking the 
place of the old civilization, appeared to the barba- 
rian tribes not so much a system of intellectual 
truths as an imposing and venerable system of gov- 
ernment — the only relic of the world-wide power and 

239 



240 Worship and Discipline. 

predominance of Rome. So the barbarians were won 
quite as much to the Church as to Christianity — often- 
times much more to their own hurt and age-long 
scandal and loss of Christendom. 

But neither the doctrines of the Church nor its 
order and government would alone have satisfied the 
new nations which were taking the place of the worn- 
out populations of the empire. The Teutonic tribes 
were naturally religious. In depth, purity, and power 
of religious sentiment, they have seldom been sur- 
passed among the races of mankind. In vain would 
the religious teachings, or the compact and powerful 
organization of the Church, have appealed to the 
Northern invaders, if Christianity had been a philos- 
ophy, and not a religion. A religion has worship, 
and appeals to the perennial needs of the human 
heart. The worship of the Christians was as much 
superior to the religious rites of their pagan neigh- 
bors as were their doctrines more sublime, and their 
organization the heir of all the genius for human rule 
that was ever possessed by Rome as the lawgiver of 
the world. 

While it is always to be borne in mind that the 
spiritual worship of the Christians was an immense 
gain for humanity — a gain which can only be appre- 
hended when we contrast it with the religious rites of 
the pagan Orient — we must not forget that, with the 
development of doctrine and ecclesiastical organiza- 
tion, there was & like development of Christian wor- 
ship. This development was in part necessary for 
meeting the changed conditions of the Church and 
congregations, and the fulfillment of the mission of the 
Church to the men of those times. But like all re- 



Worship of the Early Church 241 

ligious development, unless under the guidance of 
the Holy Spirit, the baser elements inevitably appear. 
The only development which can honor God must be 
directed by God. This Divine direction can only be 
received by a Church predominantly spiritual, quick- 
ened and responsive to the influence of the Holy 
Ghost. On the contrary, the Church, for the three 
centuries from Constantine until Gregory I, experi- 
enced the incoming flood-tide of worldliness and polit- 
ical corruption in consequence of its union with the 
State, and at the same time the overthrow of the old 
order, and its replacement by savage hordes, ignorant 
of letters and the very rudiments of culture. It 
would be strange indeed if, to the higher purposes of 
the Divine Spirit, there was not failure of adequate 
response — if there did not creep in perversions and 
corruptions. These were not thrown off" and corrected 
until men more in accord with the Spirit of God than 
was the regular organization of the Church appeared 
in the Reformation, yet a thousand years in the 
future. 

No adequate conception of the early Church is 
possible without a knowledge of its worship. In the 
study of the religious services of the Church will be 
found set forth in vivid Contrast the strength and 
weakness, the purity and defects, the glory and cor- 
ruption of the Christianity of the first six centuries. 

The development of Christian worship during this 
period divides itself into four sections : 

1. The early Church, 30-170. 

2. The old Catholic Church, 170-381. 

3. Greek Catholic Church, 381-600. 

4. Roman Catholic Church, 381-600. 

16 



242 Worship and Discipline. 

The first apostles were Jews. Until compelled to 

separation by persecution, they observed the Jewish 

Worship of Sabbath; the hours of prayer and the 

the Jewish temple services, with meetings from house 

Christians in , #-***«.. 

the Apostolic to house of the members of the Christian 
A * e - community for praise and prayer ; the love- 
feast; and the Lord's Supper. (Acts ii, 15; x, 9; 
xxii, 17; ii, 46; v, 24; and xii, 12.) 

When they could no longer worship in the forms 
to which they and their fathers were accustomed in 
the temple, whatever of form was taken over into 
Christian assemblies came from the synagogue rather 
than from the temple. The service seems to have 
included prayer, reading of the Scriptures, exposition 
of the Scriptures read, with exhortation and benedic- 
tion, and probably singing. There were two parts 
of the Christian worship which were original and 
unique, though both based on the Passover Supper. 
They were the love-feast and the Lord's Supper. 
These were the distinctive parts of Christian worship. 
The Lord's Supper was observed as in the presence of 
the unseen Lord. They, the members of his house- 
hold, pledged themselves to him ; and, by his love 
being bound to each other, they made remembrance 
of his death. The performance of this rite enjoined 
by the risen Lord was preaching the gospel " in the 
fullest and highest sense, and in the most significant 
form." The love- feast was the common meal in 
token of a common brotherhood. It was an unceas- 
ing witness to the test of the discipleship applied by 
the world. " By this shall all men know that ye are 
my disciples, if ye have love one to another." 



Worship of the Early Church 243 

The Christians converted from heathenism mingled 
with a few converted Jews, and were under the guid- 
ance of the apostles, or those taught by Wor8h , pof 
them. We have a picture of such a Church the Oentiie 
in Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians. Chr,stlans - 
The passages relating to Christian worship are: 
1 Cor. xiv, 33, 39, 40; xii, 3, 4, 17; xi, 20; xvi, 2, 19. 
Compare with these Eph. iv, 30; 1 Thess. v, 19; and 
Rom. xvi, 5. 

The worship was held usually in the house of 
some prominent member of the Church as above, at 
Corinth and at Philippi; while at Ephesus Paul se- 
cured the school of Tyrannus as a place for Chris- 
tian teaching, whether of worship we can not say. 
They met on the first day of the week — the L,ord's- 
day. (1 Cor. xvi, 2; Acts xx, 7; Rev. i, 10.) The 
order of worship seems to have been prayer, reading 
Scriptures, prayer, teaching, prophecy, speaking with 
tongues, singing. Teaching was probably an exposi- 
tion of the passage read, with practical applications, 
the result of reflection and the attainment of knowl- 
edge or gnosis. Prophecy was the speaking with 
authority the will of the Lord, the Spirit directly aid- 
ing in the explanation of the Scriptures, the preach- 
ing of Christ, or the treatment of present emergen- 
cies. Speaking with tongues was the expression of 
sorrowful or joyful emotions in an ecstatic state, 
caused by thoughts of heaven and future glory. In 
time, teaching and prophecy came together, and 
formed the sermon and exhortation. Speaking with 
tongues passed into the songs and hymns of the 
Church. 



244 Worship and Discipline. 

The love-feast, or Agapse, was originally a full 
meal, of which the Lord's Supper was only a part. 

The At the beginning of the second century 
Love-feast, they were separated. Love-feasts contin- 
ued to be observed until 350-400. 

In the worship of the Apostolic Age, the Church 
comes together as a body of believers, called to be 
saints, in whom dwells the Holy Ghost. They wor- 
ship the Lord, crucified and risen, and the Heavenly 
Father. The purpose of the worship is the edifica- 
tion of believers, and the conversion of those who 
know not God. The aim is to secure the surrender 
of the whole body to the Lord, the renewing of the 
mind, and the doing of the will of God. As a con- 
dition to this edification, all things are to be done 
decently and in order. The Church, as a body of be- 
lievers, are the children of God, themselves priests, 
as being in immediate communion with him. Those 
who speak or take part in the service are called of 
the Spirit, and through these the mind of the Spirit 
is made known to the Church. 

The chief point in the service is the Lord's Sup- 
per — with and through it the preaching of the death 
The Lord's and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and thus 
Supper. reconciliation to God and participation in 
the gift of the Holy Ghost and the fellowship of the 
brethren. From the following, the example of the 
Lord at the Paschal Supper, and the statements in 
1 Cor. xi, 20 ff., the order of its administration seems 
to have been as follows: 

1. The Eucharistic prayer. 

2. Blessing of God on the gifts offered, or bene- 
diction. 



Worship of the Early Church. 245 

3. Preaching of the words of Jesus. 

4. Consecration of the elements. 

5. Breaking of bread. 

6. Administering of the cup. 

7. Prayer of thanksgiving. 

8. Hymns of praise. 

There were no special liturgies : 

Dr. Plumptre gives this sketch of the Apostolic 
worship and love-feast : 

" The Church meets together in a large room 
hired for the purpose, or given by one of the more 
wealthy converts. The materials of the meal were 
according to the taste and wealth of the community. 
They would include meat, poultry, fish, cheese, milk, 
and honey, with, of course, bread and wine. The 
cost of the meal fell practically on the richer mem- 
bers of the Church, whether it was provided out of 
the common funds, or from contributions in kind of 
the provisions suitable. At the appointed hour, they 
came and waited for each other, men and women 
being seated at different tables, perhaps, on opposite 
sides of the room, until the bishop or presbyter of the 
Church pronounced the blessing. They ate and drank. 
Originally, at some time before or "after the meal, one 
loaf was specially blessed and broken, one cup passed 
around especially as the 'cup of blessing/ When 
the meal was over, water was brought, and they 
washed their hands. Then, if not before, according 
to the season of the year, lamps were placed on their 
stands, and the more devotional part of the meeting 
began. Those who had special gifts were called upon 
to expound Scripture, or to speak a word of exhorta- 
tion, or tc sing a hymn. It was the natural time for 



246 Worship and Discipline. 

intelligence to be communicated from other Churches; 
for letters from them or their bishops to be read; for 
strangers who had come with Church letters to be 
received. Collections were made for the relief of dis- 
tressed Churches at a distance, or for the poor of the 
district. Then came the salutation — the ' holy kiss/ 
which told of brotherhood — the final prayer, the quiet 
and orderly dispersion." 

The suspicion of the heathen in times of persecu- 
tion, the excesses like heathen feasts, the spirit of 
caste in the Church, and the ascetic ideal which made 
it obligatory to partake of the sacrament of Holy 
Communion, fasting, changed this freedom and sim- 
plicity of the early Christian worship. 

The second century was the Post Apostolic Age. 

It saw the conflict with Gnosticism and with Monta- 

Worship of nism, and the cessation of spiritual gifts. 

Apostolic ^ose specially possessing them — apostles 

Age. and prophets — flourished in the Church 
until the casting out of Montanism. The Church 
met for worship on the first day of the week. So 
testify Barnabas, Ignatius, Pliny, and Justin. The 
place of meeting depended upon the extent that the 
Church enjoyed peace from the persecuting State, 
whether in public or secret places. The aim is, as 
before, the building up of the Church and the con- 
version of those who do not believe. The teaching 
was given by teachers of the local Church — bishop or 
presbyters, or prophets or apostles, if any were pres- 
ent. These were evangelists who addressed the peo- 
ple; afterward, any moved by the Spirit might do 
likewise, but all under the direction of the president 
or bishop. The service is the immediate act of the 



Worship of the Early Church. 247 

Church in prayer and consecration, and of God with 
the Church through the word and the sacrament of 
the Lord's Supper as organs of the Holy Spirit. 
There is no priestly mediation ; but the Church is a 
congregation of priests as the free children of God. 
The Lord's Supper is no act of merit or necessity 
before God, but the spontaneous expression of the life 
of faith in self-surrender and prayer, and in spiritual 
service, which is the real offering the Christians bring 
to God. 

The purity and simplicity of the Christian wor- 
ship, as set forth in the Acts and Epistles of the New 
Testament, and as preserved in the memo- Letter 
rials of the Catacombs, awaken the admira- of Plin y 
tion of every devout heart. Nor are we without 
authentic literary monuments of the worship of the 
early Church. A heathen governor, writing of the 
Christians of Bithynia, who were within the sphere 
of the influence both of St. Paul and St. John, gives 
an account of Christian worship which had come to 
his knowledge through the judicial examinations of 
those condemned to die for the " Name," which can 
never fail to touch the Christian heart. Pliny, in his 
letters to Trajan, about in A, D., says he was told 
by those who had worshiped with the Christians that 
" they were accustomed to meet on a stated day, be- 
fore sunrise, and to repeat among themselves a hymn 
to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves, as with 
an oath (sacramentum), not to commit any wicked- 
ness ; not to be guilty of theft, robbery, or adultery ; 
never to break a promise or withhold a pledge ; after 
which it was their custom to separate, and meet again 
at a promiscuous, harmless meal." In this account, 



248 Worship and Discipline. 

we see the meeting on a " stated day "—the I,ord's- 
day ; the gathering before sunrise, that they might 
not be disturbed by their heathen neighbors; the 
singing of a Christian hymn (so hymns, as distin- 
guished from psalms, must date back to the first cen- 
tury) ; then the participation in the sacrament, with 
such instruction as made it a real and efficient agent 
in the moral development of the individual and of the 
Church; afterward, their coming together again for 
the love-feast, which made manifest and deepened 
their Christian fellowship. Such was the worship of 
the martyr Church of Bithynia. A picture so pure 
and fair must ever attract the thought and secure the 
reverence of Christians of every age and clime. 

We have the worship of the early Church of 
about the same date set forth more in detail, and yet 
The Teaching w ^h a simplicity as marked, in the "Teach- 
of the ing of the Twelve," A. D. no: " But on 
weIve ' the I,ord's-day do ye assemble and break 
bread, and give thanks after confessing your trans- 
gressions, in order that your sacrifice may be pure. 
But every one that hath controversy with his friend, 
let him not come together with you until they be recon- 
ciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned. . . . 
Now, concerning the Eucharist, thus give thanks; 
first concerning the cup : ' We thank thee, our Father, 
for the holy wine of David thy servant, which thou 
hast made known to us through Jesus thy Servant ; 
to thee be glory for ever and ever!' And con- 
cerning the broken bread: 'We thank thee, our 
Father, for the life and knowledge which thou hast 
made known to us through Jesus thy Servant; to 
thee be glory forever! Even as this broken bread 



Worship of the Early Church, 249 

was scattered over the hills and became one, so let 
thy Church be gathered together from the ends of 
the earth into thy kingdom; for thine is the glory 
and the power, through Jesus Christ forever.' But let 
no one eat or drink of your thanksgiving [Eucharist] 
except those baptized into the Lord's name. But 
after ye are filled, thus give thanks : ' We thank thee, 
Holy Father, for thy Holy Name, which thou didst 
cause to be tabernacled in our hearts, and for the 
knowledge and faith and immortality which thou 
hast made known to us through Jesus thy Servant; 
to thee be glory forever. Thou, Master Almighty, 
didst create all things for thy Name's sake; thou 
gavest food and drink to men for enjoyment, that 
they might give thanks to thee; but to us thou 
didst freely give spiritual food and drink and 
life eternal through thy Servant. Before all things 
we thank thee that thou art mighty; to thee be 
glory forever ! Remember, Lord, thy Church, to de- 
liver it from all evil, and to make it perfect in thy 
love, and gather it from the four winds, sanctified for 
thy kingdom, which thou hast prepared for it; for 
thine is the power and the glory forever. Let grace 
come, and let this world pass away. Hosanna to the 
Son of David ! If any one is holy, let him come ; if 
any one is not so, let him repent! Maranatha, Amen.' 
But permit the prophets to give thanks to as much as 
they desire." 

We observe in these directions the assembling on 
the Lord's-day, and the celebration of the Eucharist, 
in which confession of sins and reconciliation of the 
brethren is marked. There is given a short form of 
prayer for the consecration of the wine and the bread ; 



250 Worship and Discipline. 

then the communion ; and after it, the longer prayer 
of thanksgiving and intercession for the Church. 
The whole bears the impress of the gathering to- 
gether of believers for prayer. It is not the worship 
of the great congregation, and has no kinship to 
even the oldest liturgies which have come down to us. 

Some twenty-five years later, in 135, Justin Martyr 

gives, in his "Apology" to the Emperor Antoninus 

Justin Pius, a graphic and touching picture of 

Martyr. Christian worship. (Apology I, 6, 7, 65. 

A. N. F., Vol. I, pp. 185 and 186.) 

"And on the day called Sunday, all who live in 
cities or in the country gather together in one place, 
and the memoirs of the apostles and the writings of 
the prophets are read as long as the time permits. 
Then, when the reader has ceased, the president 
verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of 
these good things. Then we all rise together and 
pray; and as we before said, when our prayer is 
ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and 
the president in like manner offers prayers and 
thanksgivings, according to his ability; and the peo- 
ple assent, saying, Amen ; and there is a distribution 
to each, and a participation of that over which 
thanks have been given, and to those who are absent 
a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are 
well-to-do and willing, give what each thinks fit; 
and what is collected is deposited with the president, 
who succors the orphans and the widows, and those 
who, through sickness or any other cause, are in 
want, and those who are in bonds, and the strangers 
sojourning among us, and, in a word, takes care of all 
who are in need." 



Worship of the Early Church. 251 

The celebration of the Lord's Supper is set forth 
more in detail in the passage to which Justin refers 
above : " Those who are called brethren are assembled, 
in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common 
for ourselves and for the (newly) baptized (one), and 
for all others in every place, that we may be counted 
worthy, now that we have learned the truth, by our 
works also to be found good citizens and keepers of 
the Commandments, so that we may be saved with 
everlasting salvation. Having ended the prayers, we 
salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought 
to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of 
wine mixed with water; and he, taking them, gives 
praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through 
the name of the Son and the Holy Ghost, and offers 
thanks at considerable length for our being counted 
worthy to receive these things at his hands. And 
when he has concluded the prayer and thanksgivings, 
all the people present express their assent by saying, 
Amen. Those who are called by us deacons give to 
each of those present to partake of the bread and 
the wine mixed with water, over which the thanks- 
giving was pronounced, and to those who were absent 
they carry away a portion. " 

In this testimony we have set forth the gathering 
together on Sunday, the Lord's-day; the reading of 
the lessons from the Gospels and prophets ; the ser- 
mon, and the exhortation ; the rising, and then the 
common prayer of thanksgiving and intercession, and 
the holy kiss ; then the consecration of the bread and 
wine mixed with water (symbolizing the Divine and 
human natures of our Lord), by the president or pres- 
byter, the people joining in the Amen ; the com- 



252 Worship and Discipline. 

munion, the deacons distributing the elements of the 
sacrament. The president, presbyter, or bishop, then 
gives thanks, the people as before responding. Amen. 
We notice the Christian love which prompts a reser- 
vation of a portion for those necessarily absent; 
then the collection for the orphans, widows, sick, 
poor, the captives, or the strangers sojourning among 
them It will be seen that the religion of Justin's 
time was of a very practical kind, and that the Church 
always cared for her own poor. 
Order of From these notices we derive the fol- 

worship, lowing order of worship in the Post- Apos- 
tolic Church : 

First Part, 

i. Singing a psalm. 

2. Reading — Gospels and Prophets. 

3. Address of the President — exposition and application 
of the lesson. 

4. The whole Church rises in prayer and intercession for 
the needs and requests of the Church. 

Second Part— The Eucharist. 

1. The kiss of peace — sign of brotherhood. 

2. The offering of the gifts through the deacons (our col- 
lection.) 

3. Prayer of the President. A threefold prayer of thanks- 
giving for creation, redemption, and salvation. 

Thanksgiving for the cup. 
Thanksgiving for the bread. 

4. Prayer of consecration of the elements. 

5. Communion — the bread, and then the wine. 

6. Prayer of thanksgiving. 

7. Prayer of intercession — "Remember thy Church, O 
Lord," etc. 



Chapter II. 

WORSHIP OF THE OLD CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

Our next period treats of the worship of the old 
Catholic Church — the period from 170 until 381, or 
until the settlement of the Arian controversy at the 
Council of Constantinople. The Church passed 
through the Septimian, Decian, and Diocletian persecu- 
tions, and then rejoiced in the imperial favor and 
patronage of Constantine, succeeded by the divisions 
and persecutions of the Arian controversy. These 
great changes could not but effect the worship. It 
is a great change indeed from the small houses of 
prayer to the imperial basilicas, from the persecuted 
bands of believers to the Church of the court, 
thronged by the heathen multitude. These things 
made necessary some changes, and brought in more. 
The authorities are Tertullian, Cyprian, and the 
second book of the Apostolic Constitutions. There 
are two principles of worship in this period, the sec- 
ond of which entirely supplants the first at its end. 

First, the conception of the early Church that wor- 
ship is the act of the Church; the sacrifices which it 
offers Rare Jtself. The only priest between God and 
his Church is the Iyord Jesus Christ. So Tertullian 
says: " For this is a spiritual sacrifice, TwoPrincia 
which does away with the old sacri- pies of 
fices. . . . We are true worshipers and Worsh| P* 
true priests, who, praying in the spirit, make an 
offering of prayer, a sacrifice appropriate and accept- 

253 



254 Worship and Discipline. 

able to God." Likewise Irenaeus says : " Sacrifices 
do not sanctify the man ; but the conscience of him 
who offers sanctifies the sacrifice." 

The second, which at first lay alongside of the 
former, even in the same minds, was the conception 
of worship as consisting in the sacrifice which is the 
act of the priest, and in which the priest is the me- 
diator between the Church and God. The essence 
and worth of worship are in the sacrifice, which is 
the service well pleasing to God, and in the objective 
performance of which lies its value. The central act 
of the sacrament becomes, not the participation of 
the people, but the consecration by the priest. Ter- 
tullian makes a sharp distinction between clergy and 
people, and speaks of offering sacrifice. Cyprian 
holds that the bishops succeed to the apostolic office, 
and speaks of celebrating sacrifice and offering the 
cup of the blood of Christ. To the prevalence of 
this view contributed the overthrow and reaction 
against Montanism, the exaltation of the episcopate 
and the clergy, the influence of the catechumenate 
forming two classes in the Church, the influence of 
the penitential discipline, and the carrying over the 
ideas of priesthood and sacrifice from the Old Testa- 
ment, and, finally, the influence of the secret disci- 
pline and the heathen mysteries. 

Tertullian seems to make the intercessions which 
the Christians make on behalf of emperors and the 

Testimony P eace °f the empire, on behalf of enemies, 
of and for fruitful seasons. The commem- 

Tertuiiian. ora ti on an( j intercession for the dead take 
place in connection with the Eucharist. He describes 
the blessing of the cup in the Iyord's Supper as conse- 



Old Catholic Church Worship, 255 

cration ; and the consecration of the bread to be a rep- 
resentation of the Lord's body he held to have been 
accomplished by the Lord's words, "This is my 
body." 

He states that the Eucharist was administered to 
all those who were present ; for he recommends those 
who hesitated to be present at the celebration on fast- 
days, for fear of breaking their fast, to be present in- 
deed, but to reserve the portion which they received. 
This applies to the bread only. It was consecrated 
bread, which some were in the habit of putting to 
their lips before the ordinary meal. The Eucharist 
was received, not at the usual meal-time — as the 
Lord's command seemed to require — but in assem- 
blies, before dawn, and from no other hands than 
those of the presidents. It was given into the hands, 
and the Christians felt an anxious dread lest any por- 
tion of the bread or wine should fall to the ground; 
for the holy communion was administered under both 
kinds. Prayers, which are called prayers of sacri- 
fice, followed communion. 

Cyprian says that, in the eucharistic action, "be- 
cause we make mention of his passion in all our sac- 
rices (for the passion of the Lord is the 
sacrifice which we offer), we ought to do 
no other thing than he did ; for Scripture says that, 
so often as we offer the cup in commemoration of 
the Lord and his passion, we should do that which 
it is evident the Lord did (mixing water with wine)." 
In the eucharistic action, as well as in prayers, in- 
tercession was made for brethren suffering affliction, 
whose names were recited, as were also the names of 
those who made offerings, and of the dead who had 



256 Worship and Discipline. 

departed uncensured in the communion of the Church. 
The liturgical office of the priest seems to be 
summed up in sanctifying the oblation, in prayers and 
supplications; and the brethren are admonished that, 
when they come together to celebrate the divine sac- 
rifices with the priest of God, they should not in- 
dulge in noisy and unseemly prayers, a passage which 
seems to imply that the congregation took a promi- 
nent part in the eucharistic service. The deacons 
presented the cup, after consecration, to those who 
were present, probably in a certain order ; the bread 
was received into the right hand, and was not unfre- 
quently carried home in a casket. 

The Apostolic Constitutions, Book II, says: " After 
the sacrifice has been made (consecration of the ele- 
"TheApos- ments )> ^t each rank severally partake of 
toiic Consti- the L,ord's body and of the precious blood, 
approaching in rank with reverence and 
godly fear, as to the body of a king; and let the 
women draw near with veiled heads, as befits the 
rank of women. And let the doors be watched, lest 
any unbeliever or uninitiated person enter.' ' By 
ranks, we are no doubt to understand the several or- 
ders of the clergy and ascetics, and then laymen and 
women. Clement, Origen, and Dionysius add noth- 
ing worthy of note to the traits presented by these 
writers. 

From Tertullian we learn that, in the intercession, 
prayer was made in commemoration and for the dead. 
The consecration of the bread was made in the use of 
the words, "This is my body." We see the strictness 
of the fasts and the practice of reserving a portion of 
the sacrament prevalent in North Africa, and the cele- 



Old Catholic Church Worship, 257 

bration of the Eucharist in the early morning, as in 
Justin's time. Christians received the communion in 
both kinds, and the bread from the hand of the pres- 
byters or bishop in their own hands. Cyprian con- 
firms the statements of Tertullian, and makes men- 
tion of mixing the wine with the water ; and that the 
office of presbyter or bishop was confined to the con- 
secration prayers and supplications, as in the " Teach- 
ing of the Twelve," and in the time of Justin; and 
the congregation took part in the prayers after com- 
munion, like a modern prayer-meeting. This freedom 
of worship seems to have become more formal in the 
directions of the " Apostolic Constitutions ;" and yet 
we see that the spirit, and largely the form, of the 
service is akin to the earlier usage of the days of 
Justin Martyr. 

In this period, Sunday is the day of Christian 
worship. Wednesdays and Fridays, the 

. « ^ . , i < Fasting. 

days commemorating the Savior s betrayal 
and crucifixion, fasting was observed until three 
o'clock in the afternoon — the hour of his death. In 
the forty years' peace (263-303), the Chris- order of 
tians built large churches and had legal Worship. 
ownership of their cemeteries. Christian worship in 
this period, as set forth in the second book of the 
" Apostolic Constitutions," was as follows: 

First Part. 

1. Singing of psalms. Reading two portions from Old Testa- 

ment. 
Singing. Reading two portions from the New Testament. 

2. Addresses — the bishop or presbyters. 

3. Common Church prayer. The Church standing facing the 

east, with upraised arms ; the men with uncovered 
heads, the women veiled. 
17 



258 Worship and Discipline. 

Skcond Part — The Eucharist. 

1. The preparation. Kiss of peace; offering of gifts; Ter- 

tullian's prayer for the dead. 

2. The consecration. Prayer of praise and thanksgiving; 

the Lord's Prayer. 

(a) Prayer of praise and intercession by the deacon, re- 

sponded to by the Church. 

(b) High priestly benediction through the celebrant. 

(c) Consecration prayer of the bishop. 

(d) The offering — words of institution. 
Communion, closing with a psalm. 



Chapter III. 

GREEK CATHOLIC WORSHIP. 

We see an established and stately ceremonial 
when we read the description which Cyril, Bishop of 
Jerusalem, gives of the liturgy, as it was actually cele- 
brated there, 350-386 A. D. 

After describing the Sursum Corda, Preface, and 
Sanctus, he proceeds: "Then, after hallowing our- 
selves by these spiritual hymns, we beseech the mer- 
ciful God to send forth his Holy Spirit upon the ele- 
ments displayed upon the table, to make the bread 
the body of Christ, and the wine the blood of Christ ; 
for most certainly, whatsoever the Holy Spirit may 
have touched, that is hallowed and transformed. 
Then after that the spiritual sacrifice — the unbloody 
service — is completed, over that sacrifice of propitia- 
tion we beseech God for the common peace of the 
Churches ; for the welfare of the world ; for kings ; 
for soldiers and allies; for those in infirmity; for 
those in special trouble; and generally we all pray 
for all who need help; and this sacrifice we offer. 
Then we make mention also of those who have gone 
to rest before us — first patriarchs, prophets, apostles, 
and martyrs — that God, at their prayers and interces- 
sions, would receive our supplications; then also on 
behalf of the holy fathers and bishops who have gone 
to rest before us ; and generally of all our body who 
have gone to rest before us, — believing that the great- 
est benefit will accrue to their souls for whom the 

259 



260 Worship and Discipline. 

supplication is offered while the holy and most awful 
sacrifice is displayed. Then follows the L,ord's Prayer, 
and the t Holy things to the holy ones;' after which 
ye hear the voice of the chanter, with divine melody, 
inviting you to partake of the holy mysteries, and 
saying : ' O taste, and see how good the I<ord is !' 
Permit not the bodily palate — no, but faith unfeigned — 
to judge of these things ; for they who taste are bid- 
den to taste not of bread and wine, but of the copy 
(foriTunoq) of the body and blood of Christ. When 
you approach, then, draw near, not with the wrists 
straight out, not with the fingers spread, but making 
the left hand a throne for the right, as for that which 
is to receive a king, and hallowing the palm, receive 
the body of Christ, saying, after the reception, the 
Amen. Then, after carefully hallowing thine eyes by 
the touch of the holy body, partake of it, giving 
heed lest any portion of it fall aside and be lost ; for 
whatsoever thou hast lost, thou hast suffered damage 
of thine own members. Then, after communicating 
of the body, draw near also to the cup of the blood, 
not stretching forth thine hands, but bending, and, 
with an air of adoration and reverence, saying the 
Amen, sanctify thyself, partaking also of the blood of 
Christ. Further, touching with thy hands the mois- 
ture remaining on thy lips, sanctify both thine eyes 
and thy forehead, and the other organs of thy senses. 
Then, while awaiting the prayer, give thanks unto 
God, who hath thought thee worthy of so great mys- 
teries." We have here a superstitious reverence for 
the elements accompanying a teaching of transforma- 
tion, but not transubstantiation. 

Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria had their litur- 



Greek Catholic Worship. 261 

gical service. We have no proof of a written lit- 
urgy before the fifth century. The great name of 
this period is Chrysostom; the great Church is St. 
Sophia, at Constantinople. The usage of the impe- 
rial capital prevailed throughout the Greek Church, 
and in all the lands of its conquests, from the Sea of 
Kamtchatka to the Adriatic. Its forms of worship 
are those of the great Sclavic race and Russian Em- 
pire. In the conception of Christian worship of this 
period, priesthood and sacrifice are as much essential 
factors as they were in the Old Testament theocracy. 
It completes those by offering a perfect means of sal- 
vation and embracing all men. 

The essence of the worship is the edification of the 
people. The service is a symbolic representation. 
What is executed before the eyes of the The Greek 
devout is not the fact itself, but an intima- conception 
tion through symbol and action. It is not of Worship. 
the representation of the sacrifice of the Son of God, 
but the mysterious allegorical representation of the 
Divine act for the redemption of the world, accom- 
plished by our I^ord in the sacrifice of Golgotha and 
in his glorious resurrection. The worship is carried 
out without the co-operation of the Church ; but it 
presumes its presence, and without it there is no sense 
or aim in the dramatic representation. Hence there 
are no private masses. The Greek conception of the 
Church in worship is a holy fellowship of initiated or 
consecrated members, to whom are confided the Divine 
mysteries, and which is intrusted with consecrated 
forms. In this it resembles the heathen mysteries. 
The division of the church, the chancel and the 
sanctuary; the related action of the priest, deacon, 



262 Worship and Discipline. 

and choir ; the relation between the prayers and the 
singing, — remind one of the antique classic drama and 
its chorus. 

The Byzantine Church is a many-domed structure; 
but all parts command a view of the space in front of 
Description of the altar, which is the stage for the per- 
the Worship, formance of the worship. The women oc- 
cupy the galleries ; the men, the floor. A wall sep- 
arates the sanctuary with the altar from the chancel 
in front of it and the church without. This wall is 
covered with paintings — Christ on the right hand, 
Mary on the left, both surrounded with a band of 
apostles and saints. The frames of these pictures are 
covered with gold-leaf and ornamented with precious 
stones. Before this pictured wall, and separated from 
the rest of the church by a low rail, is the space for 
the action of the drama of worship. Right and left 
are great candles. In the light of these, through the 
splendor of the gold-and-silver-adorned pictures, the 
priests and deacons exercise their office. At their 
side stands the choir of singers. The wall inclosing 
the sanctuary is pierced for three sets of doors from 
the chancel. The large ones in the center are called 
the royal doors, and are used only by the priests to 
pass through, except in Easter-week, when the faith- 
ful may enter by them. Usually, they use the doors 
at the side. Within the sanctuary, at the left or north 
side, is the table for the offerings ; at the right, the 
diaconicum, or clothing-room for the officiating priest. 
In the midst is the altar, which symbolizes the holy 
sepulcher. The silk altar-cloth is consecrated by the 
bishop. On it is represented the burial of Christ. 
One of the four ends must contain a martyr's relics. 



Greek Catholic Worship, 263 

A cross lies on the altar, before which are lighted 
candles. On the altar are also the house of the sac- 
rament for the consecrated bread, most richly wrought, 
and a copy of the Gospels. The celebration of di- 
vine worship begins on Saturday evening, the action 
representing the history of redemption, from the cre- 
ation until the birth of Christ. The service at six 
o'clock on Sunday morning represents the history 
from the birth of Christ until his entrance upon his 
ministry. The chief service, at ten o'clock A. M., 
represents the life of Christ, from the beginning of 
his ministry until his ascension. 

The following is the order of the service accord- 
ing to the liturgy of Chrysostom, which is Order of 
most generally used in the Greek Church, the^Greek 
and which dates from the eighth century, Church. 
though with some later additions, and shows the full 
development of the liturgical tendencies of the closing 
centuries of this period: 

A. Mass for the catechumens. (The cathechumens are those 
under instruction, or on probation, in the Church.) 

(a) The officiating priest kisses the altar and Gospel. 

(b) The Litany chanted by the deacons, responded by the 

choir ( u KvpiE kXerjoov}. 

(c) Antiphonal recitation of the holy praises, like a sum- 

mary preaching of the gospel. 

(d) Little Entrance — The Gospels were joyfully borne into 
the church ; choir ; hymns to the Trinity. 

(e) Reading Scriptures. 

1. Epistle through celebrant ; responsive hallelujah ; 

Psalmody. 

2. Gospel through the deacon ; responsive, " Praise to 

thee, O Christ !" blessing with trikerion and dike- 
rion (two or three fingers) ; dismissal of catechu- 
mens. 



264 Worship and Discipline. 

B. Mass for the faithful. 

I. Preparation and dressing; silent prayer; spreading 

out of the antimensium (altar-cloth) upon the altar ; 
choir, song of the cherubim; kindling of the in- 
cense; washing of the hands. 

Great Entrance — Gifts joyfully placed upon the altar. 

Shutting of the holy doors. 

Silent prayer. 

II. Eucharist. 

(a) Creed — the constitution of catechumens. 

(b) Canon — 

1. Apostolic benediction. 

2. Praefatio. 

3. Prayers of the Canon. 

(aa) Thanks for creation ; sanctus. 

(bb) Thanks for redemption; offering; re- 
sponse, "Thine of thine;" oblation. 

(cc) Consecration ; epiklesis (invocation) of 
the Holy Ghost. 

(dd) Commemoration (all kneel) ; hymns of 
thanks. 

(ee) Prayer for the Church triumphant. 

iff) Prayer for the communicants. 

(c) Communion — " The holy things to the holy ones ;" 

choir singing. 

(d) Post-communion — Exhibition of the elements; 
bringing back of the table of oblation ; choir, 
Psalm xlvii ; prayer of thanksgiving ; benedic- 
tion ; recitation, Psalms xxxiv and cxiii. 
Distribution of gifts (antidoron). 

Removal of the priestly garments. 
Conclusion ; dismissal. 

Of the effect of such ritualistic service — of the ex- 
altation of ritual as the means of instruction and 
grace for the people — Professor Harnack says : " Who- 
ever to-day studies the condition of the Greek relig- 
ion among the orthodox and Monophysites — not the 



Greek Catholic Worship. 265 

religion of the ignorant and common people, but also 
the ritual of worship, the magic ceremonies, and the 
representations of the common priests and monks — 
he will, at many places, have the impression that re- 
ligion can scarcely sink to lower depths. It has re- 
ally become superstition — a chaos of mixed and 
wholly heterogeneous but firmly welded sentences 
and forms ; an opaque, variegated, and verbose ritual, 
highly treasured because it binds the people and the 
race to each other and to their past, but of which 
only the inferior parts are yet living. . . . Poly- 
theism, in the full sense of the word, is re-established. 
Religion has lost contact with spiritual truth. . . . 
The ritual may always set forth, it may itself in- 
clude, the sublimest and loftiest thoughts ; yet, as a 
spiritual religion, it has no place, and is a degener- 
ation." 

Yet no one who has seen a congregation at a serv- 
ice of the Greek Catholic Church but must admire 
their reverence and devotion. Their singing, without 
the aid of any instrument, is the most magnificent 
heard in any Christian worship. Among their clergy 
are many men of large intelligence and deep piety. 
They have the Scriptures in the language of the peo- 
ple. We can but think that there is among them a 
greater latent force, which might be used for the up- 
building of the kingdom of God, than anywhere else 
in Christendom. 



Chapter IV. 

ROMAN CATHOLIC WORSHIP. 

In the Roman Catholic L,iturgy there is a real, 
not symbolic, offering of the New Testament sacri- 
fice, through the priesthood of the New Testament 
theocracy. All is centered in a real sacri- 

The Roman J . . 

Catholic nee, the repetition of that of Golgotha, 
Conception daily renewed and offered before God. 

of Worship. «... + * r i 

Worship is no longer the act of the con- 
gregation, but that of the priest ; and its significance 
as a means of grace is the real mediation of the 
priesthood. It needs neither the co-operation nor 
presence of the Church, but is of value in itself; 
hence the practice of private masses. The Church 
finds its center in the altar ; prayer is concentrated on 
the sacrifice ; and all is the divinely-ordained worship 
of God. 

We give now a comparative view of the chief 
liturgies. First, the Greek and Roman Catholic in 
Comparison comparison until the Canon of the mass, 
of the Greek or ^ e eucharistic service proper. Then we 

and Roman . 

Catholic have a comparative view of the old and 

service. simpler Ambrosian and Gregorian Canons ; 

then the Mozarabic and Ephesian, from which comes 

the liturgy of the Church of England ; and finally 

the usage of the Roman Catholic and Greek Churches. 

266 



Roman Catholic Worship. 



267 



Greek. Roman Catholic, 

i. act of preparation. 
i. Preparation of Liturgical Persons. 



(a) Prayer before the pictures. 

(b) Entrance to the sanctuary. 

(c) Putting on the vestments. 



(a) Orationes praeparatoriae — 

touching the hands. 

(b) Putting on the vestments. 

(c) Spiritual preparation — 

Gradual e antiphon, Con- 
fiteor. 



2. Preparation of Liturgical Place. 



Pros Komidie (entrance). 
Preparation of the gifts. 

(a) Cutting out of the Lamb. 

(b) Piercing the Lamb with 

the holy lance. 
Mixing of water and of 

wine. 
Assembly of the Church 

in prayer about the 

Lamb. 

(c) Placing the gifts on the 

Discus. 
Covering with the holy 
star, holy covering, in- 
cense. 



Entrance to the place of sac- 
rifice with prayer. 



(a) Salutatio. 

(b) Altar prayer. 

(c) Ascendens ad altare. 

(d) Inclinatus super altare. 

(e) Osculatur altare. 



II. service of the word. 
A. Introduction. 



1. Introit sentence. 

2. Psalm. 



i. Ektenie (a litany). 

2. Antiphons. 

3. Beatitudes. 

With Gloria Patri. 
Little Entrance with the 3. Kyrie (rest of the Ektenie 

Gospels. corresponds with II A, 

Trisagion— " Holy, holy, 1-3.) 

holy." Gloria in Excelsis. 



268 Worship and Discipline. 

Greek. Roman Catholic. 

B. Reading of the Scriptures. 

i. Salutatio. i. Salutatio. 

Prokeimenon (introduc- Collect, 

tory) passage from the 2. Epistle. 

Old Testament. Graduale and verse — 

2. New Testament. Hymn. 

(aa) Epistle. Hallelujah (or Tractus) — 

Psalmody. choral response. 

Hallelujah. Sequence. 

(bb) Gospels. 3. Gospels. 
" Praise to thee, O Christ !" 

C. Preaching of the Word— Exposition. 

Ektenie (Ivitany). Sermon 

in. the Eucharist. 
A. Offering. 

(aa) Constituting the offering 
of the Church. 
Silent prayer. 
Handwashing — I n c e n s e 

(hVTTjptOV.) 

(bb) Offering of gifts. 
Great entrance. 

Mere liturgical, formal, and ceremonial representation of the 
elements. The offering of prayer 

for the bread, water, wine. 
Epiklesis of the Holy Ghost. 

Ektenie (Ivitany). Purification gifts. Prayer for 

the acceptance of the Secretu. 
Intercession for those ex- 
cluded from the fellowship 
of sacrifice. 
Note.— Introit is the anthem at the beginning of the Eucharistic 

service. Antiphon is a psalm, chant, or hymn, sung respousively by two 

sections of the choir. Confiteor is a form of general confession of sins. 

Collect is a short prayer. Graduale is an anthem sung after the epistle. 

Sequence is words set to the last notes prolonged of the hallelujah. 

Tractus is a single voice singing the psalm in the midst of the choir. 

Epiklesis is an invocation, usually of the Holy Ghost. 



Roman Catholic Worship. 269 

Hence arose the great families of liturgies ; for 
the service of the Christian Church from the days of 
Constantine to those of Luther was a liturgical serv- 
ice, and came to be a highly-enriched and The Great 
elaborate ceremonial. This is still the Liturgies, 
case in the Greek , Oriental, and Roman Catholic 
Churches ; in a lesser degree in the Church of Eng- 
land and her descendants who use her liturgy. 

There can be no question of the impression of 
such a liturgical service on the minds of the unlet- 
tered and untutored sons of the forests, who took the 
place of the proconsuls and patricians of Rome; 
or of the hold that the great Christian truths so 
often repeated took on them. And there is a place 
in all worship for impressiveness and grandeur. 
"The Lord is in his holy temple," is a magnificent 
conception, a glorious reality. But with the service 
in a foreign tongue, it is easy to overestimate the edu- 
cational or spiritual benefit received, and the tendency 
to tediousness and unmeaning repetition is great. 
We can only sketch the characteristics of these great 
liturgies, and their use in the Greek and Roman and 
the Episcopal Churches of Protestantism. For while 
Presbyterianism has its forms of prayer and order of 
service, they have been far more individual and of 
the local Church than common to the whole ecclesi- 
astical body or communion. For more convenient 
teference, we place these directories of worship in a 
table, side by side, so that the reader may readily ob- 
serve wherein they are identical, and wherein they 
differ. 



270 



THE GREAT LITURGIES. 



AMBROSIAN 

AND 

GREGORIAN. 
Sursum Corda. 



Preface. 



Sanctus. 



Prayer for the liv- g 
ing and for ac- jjj 
ceptance of the £ 
Sacrifice. u 



Oblation. 



GAIvIvACIAN, 

MOZARABIC, 

AND 

EPHESIAN. 
Prefatory Prayer. 
Introit. 
Gloria in Excelsis. 



EPISTLE AND 
GOSPEL. 



Oblation of Ele .5 

ments. 'g 





NICENE CREED. 



Expulsion of Cate- 
chumens. 



Prayer for the£ 
Church. t£ 

o 

TRIUMPHAL HYMN, p^ 



Prayer for Quick 

and Dead. 
Kiss of Peace. 



COMMEMORATION 
OF INSTITUTION. 



Praver for the 

Dead. 
Preface to the <a 

lord's Prayer. $ 
Embolismus. A s 

The Lord's Prayer. §< 

Communion. 



Elevation and 
Fraction of Host 
into nine parts. 

Invocation. 



LORD'S PRAYER. O 



Embolismus. 
Union of Conse- 
crated Elements. 



COMMUNION. 



Prayer. 

Dismissal by the 
Deacon's Decla- 
ration. 

The Mysteries are 
completed. 



ROMAN. 



Prefatory Prayer. 

Introit. 

Gloria in Excelsis. 



EPISTLE AND 
GOSPEL. 



NICENE CREED. 



Oblation of Ele- 
ments. 



Sursum Corda. 



TRIUMPHAL HYMN. 



C o m m emoration 
o f t h e Living 
(Te igitur.) 



WORDS OF INSTI- 
TUTION. 



Oblation. 

Com memoration 
of the Dead. 

Union of Conse- 
crated Elements. 

Elevation. 

lord's prayer. 
Embolismus. 



communion 



Thanksgiving. 
Dismissal with 
Blessing. 



GREEK ORDO. 

THE GREAT EU- 
CHARISTIC 
PRAYER. 

1. The Preface. 
[Sursum Cor- 
da.] 

2. The Prayer of 
the Triumphal 
Hymn. [Pref- 
ace.] 

3. The Triumphal 
Hymn. [Sanc- 
tus ] 

4. Commemora- 
tion of our 
Lord's Life. 

5. C o m m emora- 
tion of Institu- 
tion. 

THE CONSECRA- 
TION. 

6. Words of Insti- 
tution of the 
Bread. 

7. Words of Insti- 
tution of the 
Wine. 

8. Oblation of 
the Body and 
Blood. 

9. Intro ductory 
Prayer for the 
Descent of the 
Holy Ghost. 

10. Prayer for the 
Change of Ele- 
ments. 

THE GREAT INTER- 
CESSORY PRAYER. 

11. General Inter- 
cession for the 
Quick and the 
Dead. 

12. Prayer before 
the L o rd ' s 
Prayer. 

13. The Lord's 
Prayer. 

14. The Embolis- 
mus. 

THE COMMUNION. 

15. The Prayer of 
Inclination. 

16. T h e Holy 
Things to the 
Holy Ones and 
the Elevation 
of the Host. 

17. The Fraction. 

18. The Confes- 
sion. 

19. The Commun- 
ion. 

20. TheAntidoron 
and Prayer of 
Thanksgiving. 



Roman Catholic Worship. 271 

Let us take the Ambrosian and Gregorian form as 
the simplest. It begins with the sursum corda, "Lift 
up your hearts.' ' Then the preface — that is, a form 
serving as an introduction to the anaphora or missa 
fidelium (mass for believers), consisting of the bene- 
diction, as in the Liturgy of St. James, " The love of 
the Lord and Father, the grace of the Son and God, 
and the fellowship and gift of the Holy Ghost be 
with you all." Second, then the sursum cor da and 
the response, " We lift them up unto the Lord " 
(Habeamus ad Domznum). Third, thanksgiving (Deo 
gr alias — euckaristia), "Let us give thanks unto the 
Lord!" Response, "It is meet and right" — Liturgy 
of St. Chrysostom — " It is meet and right to worship 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in the consubstantial 
and undivided Trinity." Fourth, the contestation, 
the preface proper and equal to the Great Entrance 
of the Greeks, was originally bringing in of gifts. 
Roman words: " It is very meet and right, just and 
wholesome we should always and everywhere give 
thanks to thee, O Holy Lord, Father Almighty, 
Eternal God, through our Lord Christ," the meet 
and right of Ritual of the Church of England. Then 
follows the sane t 'us, " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God 
Almighty." (Trisagion.) 

Oblation is a consecration of the elements, some- 
times a short prayer being added. Preface to the 
Lord's Prayer, the Roman form is: "Let us pray. 
Being taught with the precepts of salvation, and 
trained with the divine institution, let us dare to 
speak," — the Lord's Prayer, by the priest. Embo- 
lismus; that is, an inserted prayer — the name given 
to the prayer which in almost all ancient liturgies 



272 Worship and Discipline. 

follows the ford's Prayer, founded on one or both of 
the last petitions. It was usually repeated by the 
priest in a low voice, symbolizing the silence in which 
our . Lord lay in the grave. From the Church of 
Jerusalem we have the following form : "And lead us 
not into temptation, O Lord, the Lord of hosts, who 
knowest our infirmity ; but deliver us from the evil 
one, and his works, and every assault and will of his, 
for the sake of the Holy Name which is called upon 
our lowliness !" 

The Ephesian liturgy is next, from which comes 
that of the Church of England, which is the source 
of that of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The 
following elements are added to the Ambrosian rite. 
The introit is the anthem at the beginning of the 
eucharistic office. There is added : 

Gloria in Excelsis. 
Epistle and Gospel. 

Nicaean Creed. Expulsion of catechumens. 
Kiss of peace. 

Elevation and fraction of the host (the consecrated bread) 
into nine parts. Union of the consecrated elements. 
Prayer. Dismissal. 

In the Roman service are added no new elements, 
though there is given a different order. The same is 
true of the Greek ritual, though there is a greater 
elaboration of the parts. 

A scholarly American writer has said: "The 
thought of the liturgy of the Greek Church is the 
Divine manifestation in effecting the work of human 
redemption, extending from the act of creation, 
through all the intervening dispensations, to the life 



Roman Catholic Worship. 273 

of Christ, from his birth to his glorification. Kvery 
prayer, lesson, antiphonal, or chant; every posture, 
action, change of vestments, shifting of colors, etc., 
are so many symbols to illustrate the unfolding 
history of redemption. In the Latin Church the 
entire liturgy centers in one thought of supreme in- 
terest — the atoning sacrifice of Christ — veritably re- 
peated at every mass. With variety in secondary 
parts, during the changing festivals of the year, the 
point around which the whole system revolves, and 
toward which every member points, is the sacrificial 
offering of Christ in the mass by the officiating priest, 
and the appropriating of its benefits by the worship- 
ing Church.' ' 

In regard to the doctrine underlying all this ritual, 
Cyprian is the first who speaks of the priest offering 
a sacrifice in the sacrament of the Lord's Doctrine 
Supper. The fathers inclining toward of the 
transubstantiation are Gregory of Nyssa Sacrament - 
and Chrysostom in the East, and Hilary and Ambrose 
in the West. In the symbolic school are reckoned 
Basil, Eusebius, Gregory Nazianzen, and Augustine. 

Gregory the Great taught that in the Lord's Sup- 
per the sacrifice of Christ i$ actually repeated, and 
his doctrine has become the (Roman) standard. 

Not until the fourth century was it regarded as 
essential that both celebrant and recipient should be 
fasting at the time of communion. Tertullian and 
Cyprian seem to favor it, and it was commanded by 
Basil, Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Augustine. 

Baptism was the most significant rite of 
the Christian Church. It marked the deci- 
sive moment when the heathen broke with his old life 

18 



274 Worship and Discipline. 

and society, the idolater with his old religion and wor- 
ship; the hour when he put on the new life, became a 
member of the new society, and an heir of heaven. 
The Church, at the administration of this sacrament, 
prayed that he might receive the Holy Ghost ; the 
presbyter or bishop placed his hands on his head, in 
token of the bestowal of the heavenly gift. This 
afterward became separated from baptism, and be- 
came the rite of confirmation. The candidate, on his 
part, renounced the devil and his works, the world 
and the flesh, and professed his acceptance of the 
common faith of the Church in the Creed used at 
baptism. Those to be baptized were clothed in white, 
and all the surroundings were such as to lend im- 
pressiveness to the act, as we see in the baptism of 
Clovis, pp. 101-2. The effect upon the recipient can 
not be imagined by one brought up in a Christian land. 
All former sins were believed to be washed away. So 
taught the "Shepherd" of Hennas, 130. Later, a 
magical efficacy was attached to the sacrament, like 
the initiation to the heathen mysteries. It was spoken 
of as " initiation," " illumination," etc. Most of the 
fathers, after 200, taught baptismal regeneration. It 
remained the turning-point in the life of the believer — 
the decisive breaking from the old life, and the be- 
ginning of the new. 

' The Eucharist was first celebrated on the Iyord's- 
day. Then, also, on the fast-days — Wednesdays and 

Time and Fridays ; in the East, also on Saturday. 

Method of When Christianity became supreme, daily 
Celebration. ce i e b rat i 011 became usual. In the Apos- 
tolic Age, the hour was at the evening meal ; Pliny 
says before dawn. In the third century, Tertullian, 



Roman Catholic Worship. 275 

Cyprian, and others speak of the same practice. 
Cyprian, the morning for public and solemn com- 
munion. When the Church triumphed, set hours be- 
gan to be appointed. They were at first nine o'clock ; 
on ordinary feast-days, at twelve; on fast-days, at 
three in the afternoon. 

It is believed no regularly-prescribed liturgies 
were in use in the ante-Nicaean period. No elevation 
of the host, or its adoration, are known in the writ- 
ings and monuments of the first six centuries; no 
use of ceremonial lights until after 300.— Jerome 
favors them, 378 ; no use of incense for the first four 
hundred years. The Agapae, or love-feasts, con- 
tinued to be observed until 391 ; no private mass, 
where the priest alone received the elements, in this 
period. The celebrating of the sacrament of the 
Lord's Supper was (29-350) the supreme object of all 
meetings of the saints. 

Should any one dwelling in town absent himself 
for three Sundays from the Church, he should, for a 
time, be suspended from communion. The laity re- 
ceived both bread and wine in the sacrament of the 
holy communion until the twelfth century. 

Adult baptism was the more common for the first 
six centuries. It was often postponed until just be- 
fore death. The nature and duration of 

- - , . . .. . ., Baptism. 

instruction before baptism varied with cir- 
cumstances — from a few days to two or three years. 
Infant baptism is attested from 250. From the fourth 
century, the propriety of infant baptism was unques- 
tioned, and the practice was not unusual. The duty 
of performing baptism pertained to the episcopal 
office, and could be discharged by the bishop, and 



276 Worship and Discipline. 

by those only to whom his right was delegated. So 
in the East and West, in the first six centuries, though 
others, even laymen, baptized in cases of necessity. 

The apostolic mode, ordinarily, was by immersion;* 
but this was not exclusively the case. The " Teach- 
ing of the Twelve," ch. vii, thus provides : "And 
concerning baptism, thus baptize ye : Having first said 
all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living 
water. But if thou have not living water, baptize 
into other water; and if thou canst not in cold, in 
warm. But if thou have not either, pour out water 
thrice upon the head into the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. But before 
the baptism, let the baptizer fast, and the baptized, 
and whatever others can; but thou shalt order the 
baptized to fast one or two days before." 

The early Church practiced trine immersion. Dr. 
Bennett says : u We are compelled to believe that, 
while immersion was the usual mode of adminis- 
trating baptism from the first to the twelfth century, 
there was very early a large measure of Christian 
liberty allowed in the Church, by which the mode of 
baptism could be adjusted to the peculiar circum- 
stances. To this conclusion we are led by the com- 
bined testimony of the ' Teaching of the Twelve/ of 
the decisions of the Church fathers and the Councils, 
and of the uniform art representations." 

Preaching took place on Sundays, fast-days, great 

festivals, and fasts in I,ent. In Africa, the preacher 

sat, while the congregation stood. In the 

Preaching. __, . . n ^ _ ,, 

East, both sat, as did Chrysostom. Preach- 
ing was, in the earliest age, especially the duty of the 

* See Appendix, Note B. 



Roman Catholic Worship. 277 

bishop. It was reserved wholly to him in the Afri- 
can Churches. In the East, presbyters were more 
generally permitted to preach. Chrysostom preached 
most of his sermons as a presbyter. Primarily, the 
power and duty was in the bishop ; but he might, 
and usually did, authorize presbyters who were capa- 
ble to preach. Monks and other laymen, as Origen, 
were sometimes permitted to preach in the East, but 
not in the West. No sermons by any Roman bishop 
are extant before Leo I. The apostles, bishops, and 
presbyters of the earlier ages — Origen, Augustine, Ter- 
tullian, Athanasius, and Jerome — were extempore 
preachers ; Basil, the two Gregories, and Chrysostom 
preached written sermons. Preaching passed into 
disuse in the Roman Church, toward the end of this 
period. The influence of barbarians who could not 
understand Latin, and preachers who could not use 
the Teutonic tongues, contributed to this result. 

The earliest feasts of the Church — the Passover, 
Pentecost, and Easter — were observed from its birth. 
With the former would be associated the The church 
events of our Lord's passion, and with the Yeal% 
latter his ascension. Palm Sunday was observed in 
the Greek Church in the fourth century. In the 
early part of the third century, we find notices of the 
fast before Easter. Irenaeus and Tertullian speak of 
it as a fast of one or two days, or of forty hours. 
Generally, it corresponded to the time the Savior lay 
in the grave. Toward the end of this period, it was 
a Lenten fast of approximately forty days. Leo I 
speaks of ember days — that is, days of fasting — in re- 
lation to the four seasons. They seem not to have 
secured any general observance in this period. The 



278 



Worship and Discipline. 



Roman custom was to observe as fast-days the 
Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays of the first week 
in L,ent, and the weeks succeeding the festival of 
Pentecost, and the 14th of September, and the 13th of 
December. Epiphany — the feast of the manifestation 
of God at the baptism of our Lord — was observed in 
the East, from about the close of the second century, 
on the 6th of January. Christmas is earliest noticed 
as a festival of the birth of the L,ord Jesus Christ, on 
December 25th, in the pontificate of L,iberius, 352-366, 
at Rome. It was not celebrated independently of 
Epiphany, in the East, until the last quarter of the 
fourth century. In the West, the feast of Epiphany 
was celebrated from 360. It came, in that part of the 
Church, to refer to the visit of the magi. The Christ- 
mas festival, extending to January 6th in the latter 
part of this period, came to be preceded by fifty days 
of special prayer, known as the Advent. 

Sunday, from apostolic times, was observed as the 
L,ord's-day — the day of Christian worship. It was 
made a day of rest from labor — all but 
that necessary for agriculture — by a law of 
Constantine, 321. Wednesdays and Fridays were the 
ordinary fast-days of the Church. 

Hours The hours for prayer observed by those 

of Prayer, especially given to the religious life and in 
the monasteries were : 



The Week. 



1. Nocturnas, . . 

2. Matina-Iyaudes, 

3. Prima, . 

4. Tertia, . 

5. Sextia, . 

6. Nona, . 

7. Vespers, 

8. Completoriuin or compline, 



. 12 Midnight. 
. 3 A. M. 
. 6 A. M. 

9 A. M. 
. 12 A. M. 
. 3 P. M. 

6 P. M. 
. 9 P. M. 



Chapter V. 

THE DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCHo 

The Church being a voluntary association, and 
inviting all to receive the gospel and become mem- 
bers of the society of believers, there must DiscipIine in 
be some means of discipline to preserve the Early 
the moral purity of the brotherhood. The Church - 
method of Peter, in dealing with Ananias and Sap- 
phira, could not be of universal application. There- 
fore, the Church, from the first, possessed and exer- 
cised this right in accordance with the precept of our 
Lord in Matt, xviii, 15-17. Paul gives an instance in 
detail in the fifth chapter of First Corinthians, and 
2 Cor. ii, 5-10. He lays down the general rule in 
2 Thess. iii, 6, 14, 15. With this agrees 3 John 10. 
The exclusion from the Church, and so throwing 
back into the world, is called delivering over to Sa- 
tan, because the powers which rule the moral world 
outside of the Church are considered as hostile to 
God. This act, and the release from it, or absolu- 
tion, is the act of the Church — generally of the body 
of presbyters, under the direction of the bishop. Of 
course, the apostles, as the source of the gospel 
preaching, had original jurisdiction in cases of dis- 
cipline. The offender was expected to acknowledge 
his sin with public humiliation and penitence. This 
confession and satisfaction to the community or 
brotherhood which he had disgraced by his fall were 

279 



280 Worship and Discipline. 

the indispensable conditions of his absolution. The 
gross or mortal sins were idolatry, murder, adultery, 
and fornication. With idolatry was, of course, classed 
apostasy, and, later, heresy. 

The early view was, that all sins are forgiven in 
baptism. Hermas, A. D. 130, held that it was possi- 
ble to forgive sin — gross sin — once after baptism, 
the view generally being that Christ might forgive 
sins at the end of life, but that the Church could not, 
though Irenseus teaches that for " those who now sin 
Christ will die no more, but will come as judge and 
demand an account; therefore, be not proud, but 
afraid, lest, after having known Christ, doing some- 
thing displeasing to God, we should have no further 
remission of sins." 

The Montanist controversy makes an era in the 
history of penitence. Previous to 150, there is no 
Effect of instance of readmission to the Church of 
Montanism a g ross sinner, except through the inter- 
cession of a confessor or prophet. To that date, pub- 
lic penance was a help, but not a commandment. So 
Tertullian denies that the bishop, representing the 
Church, can exercise discipline, the power of binding 
and loosing — or the power of the keys, as it is called 
from Matt, xvi, 19; xviii, 18; and John xx, 23 — but 
that the Holy Spirit in the Church can do this only 
through the Montanist prophet. Callistus, Bishop of 
Rome, declared that he conferred pardon for the sins 
of adultery and fornication on the ground of repent- 
ance rendered. Tertullian denounced this action ; and 
Hippolytus was driven to the formation of a schis- 
matic Church; the latter expressly saying that Cal- 
listus is the first to extend such forgiveness. The 



Discipline of the Church. 281 

power of the bishop prevailed, and Montanism was 
overthrown. The Decian persecution caused a fur- 
ther advance in Church discipline. Cyprian is the 
father of the penitential discipline of the ancient 
Church, and it is closely connected with his views of 
the powers of the bishop and the doctrine of the sac- 
rifices in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. 

The fundamental rule of the priestly system of 
penance is, that the Spirit accompanies the office, 
irrespective of the character of the person Penitence 
who fills it. As a consequence, Church after 
penitence came to be looked upon as a 25oA - • 
healing medicinal act, more than as showing repent- 
ance, or as a penalty for gross sins. The penitential 
system, founded from 250-500, then began to decay, 
and after 600, was all but dead. 

We have, up to the beginning of this period — (a) 
Suspension from communion for a fixed period; 
(6) This suspension from communion and from the 
prayers of the Church, together with definite acts of 
penance ; (c) Excommunication, either final, or with 
the condition that the offender might be readmitted 
by means of penitence. 

At the time of Cyprian, the sentence of penitence 
did not exceed one or two years. It was regarded as 
a privilege and concession, cautiously granted, as it 
was administered but once. Penitence was voluntary 
for the most part, the time of its duration being de- 
termined by the earnestness of the repentance and 
the discretion of the bishop. Of this discipline, Ter- 
tullian and Cyprian speak in terms which show its 
depth and genuineness. 

" Penitence is a discipline for the abasement and 



282 Worship and Discipline. 

humiliation of man, enjoining such conversation as 
TertuiKan on inviteth mercy. It is directed, also, even 
Penitence. f n j-]^ ma tter of dress and food — to lie in 
sackcloth and ashes ; to hide his body in filthy gar- 
ments ; to cast down his spirit with mourning ; to ex- 
change for severe treatment the sins which he hath 
committed ; for the rest, to use simple things for meat 
and drink, to-wit, not for the belly's, but for the 
soul's sake ; for the most part, also, to cherish prayer 
by fasts; to groan, to weep, and to mourn night and 
day unto the Iyord his God; to throw himself upon 
the ground before the presbyters, and to fall on his 
knees before the beloved of God, to enjoin all the 
brethren to bear the message of his prayer for mercy." 
(Tertullian, De Poenitentia, ch. ix.) 

" Men must pray and entreat with increased con- 
tinuance ; pass the days in mourning, and the nights 
in vigils and weeping ; employ their whole 
time in tears and lamentations ; lie stretched 
on the ground; prostrate themselves among ashes, 
sackcloth, and dust ; after Christ's raiment lost, wish 
for no garment beside; after the devil's feast, must 
voluntarily fast; give themselves to righteous works, 
whereby sins are cleansed ; apply themselves to fre- 
quent almsgiving, whereby souls are freed from 
death." (Cyprian, De L,apsis, ch. xxi.) 

The penitential discipline of the Church, or public 
penance, was elaborated at the Councils of Neo-Caesa- 

The rea and Ancyra, in 314. This took the 

Penitential place of the indefinite period of penitence 

System. g xe( j ^y the earnestness of the repentance 

of the penitent and discretion of the bishop. Now 

penitence became a penal sentence, which was to be 



Discipline of the Church. 283 

worked out by certain appointed stages — so many 
years to be passed in one stage under certain condi- 
tions ; so many years in another, with a relaxation of 
the conditions, the latter stage not to be begun until 
the earlier one was completed ; and so, step by step, 
the outcast was restored to full communion. This 
system lost its vigor in the early part of the fifth cen- 
tury, through the abolition of the office of penitential 
presbyter, who had charge of it. The system, with 
its stations, was as follows : 

The first station was that of the mourners (flentes). 
The position of mourners was the position of those 
whose penitence had already begun. The 

. r i . - W Mourners, 

mention of the name is rare among early 
authorities ; and it is not likely that the thing itself 
was frequently imposed. It was a part of the scheme 
and framework of the system, held in reserve rather 
than commonly inflicted. In the appointment of the 
ancient churches, there was an open area or space set 
apart in front of the door. All who entered the 
church necessarily entered through this area or ap- 
proach. This was the place assigned to the mourn- 
ers, and beyond it they were forbidden to pass. The 
mourners, being placed outside the very doors of the 
church, could take no part in what was going on in- 
side. They were cut off from all sacred rites what- 
ever. They could hear neither the reading of the 
Scriptures nor the preaching; still less could they 
join in the prayers and the sacred mysteries. 

There is no express mention of any austerities 
peculiar to the second station. The hearer { b) Hearers 
is within the door, in the narthex, or porch, (Audientes*. 
of the church, where he could listen to the Scrip- 



284 Worship and Discipline. 

tures and the sermon. In v some buildings he might 
be able to hear while standing in the vestibule ; but, 
as a rule, his place must have been assigned within 
the building, at the lower end of the church. 

The Kneelers occupied the third station in the 
Eastern system. In the Western, it was not only the 

Kneelers principal, but in general practice must have 
(Substrati). b ee n the only one, except, perhaps, th$t of 
Bystanders. Their position was within the door of the 
church, so that they might go out with the catechumens. 
They stood within the walls of the building, in the part 
below the ambo or reading-desk. The kneelers were 
again recognized as a part, though an erring part, of 
the Christian fold. The delinquent, in this stage of 
penitence, was arrayed in sackcloth. Sozomen (vii, 
16) gives this account : %t In the Western Church, and 
especially at Rome, the place in which the penitents 
stand is visible to all. They take up their position in 
it, distressed and sorrowful. When the liturgy is 
finished, as they may not share in the public mys- 
teries, they throw themselves prostrate on the ground 
with cries and tears, when the bishop, in his compas- 
sion, coming to them, falls likewise by their side, rais- 
ing his voice with theirs, till at length the whole con- 
gregation is dissolved in tears. After this, the bishop 
is the first to rise, and to take them by the hand ; and 
when he has offered the prayers suitable for sinners per- 
forming penance, he dismisses them from the church/' 
The last penitential station was that of Bystanders. 
Bystanders They stood together with the faithful, com 

.Consis- municating with them, but in prayer only ; 

tentes) and not being dismissed before the eucha- 
ristic service, their position was above the ambo. 



Discipline of the Church. 285 

At the end of our period, public penance came 
into disuse. There were exhortations to private con- 
fession, but this was voluntary. There is no trace of 
compulsory auricular confession in this period. 

Such has been the course of the development of 
Christian worship and the discipline of penitence in 
the ancient Church. Through this, which Effect of the 
lay nearest the people's heart and daily life Discipline 
and thought, rather than through any doc- of Penitence - 
trinal error, came the superstitions and corruptions of 
the later centuries of this period. The discipline of 
penance was looked upon as a medicine for the sins of 
the daily life. Pardon for sins after baptism was sup- 
posed to be secured by daily repentance and prayer — 
the five prayers of the Church, its fasts and offerings. 
In time, to the reception of the sacrament and as a 
preparation thereto, came the discipline of penitence, 
which, not in this period but in the Church of the 
Middle Ages, developed into the compulsory practice 
of auricular confession ; i. e. y private confession to a 
priest. 

The effect this discipline was supposed to secure 
was peace of soul to the penitent. On the contrary, 
the peace and joy of God's children fled from his 
Church. It has been so in every age. Spiritual ad- 
vice and counsel are given the believer in the fellow- 
ship and watch-care of the Christian Church. Such 
counsel and admonition form one of the highest priv- 
ileges and most solemn duties of the Christian pas- 
torate. But God alone can forgive sin, and the assur- 
ance of his Spirit can alone comfort the penitent and 
the sorrowing. The High-Church movement of our 
time, with its sacramental system of doctrine, its elab- 



286 Worship and Discipline. 

orate ritual and minute ceremonial, has sought to re- 
vive a system of Church penitence and priestly confes- 
sion and absolution. With it, as with its prototype 
in the early Church, success has been the death-blow 
to Christian peace and joy. The father of this move- 
ment in Protestantism was Dr. E. B. Pusey. That 
he was a man of real holiness of life only makes more 
evident the tendency of these teachings. His own 
words will show most faithfully the effect of this sys- 
tem. Of his own religious experience he writes, Sep- 
tember 26, 1840: " My dear wife's illness [she died a 
year before the date of this letter] first brought to 
me what has since been deepened by the review of 
my past life; how, amid special mercies and guardian- 
ship of God, I am scarred all over and seamed with 
sin, so that I am a monster to myself. I loathe myself ; 
I can feel of myself only like one covered with leprosy 
from head to foot. Guarded as I have been, there is 
no one with whom I do not compare myself, and find 
myself worse than they ; and yet. thus wounded and 
full of sores, I am so shocked at myself that I dare 
not lay my wounds bare to any one : I dare not so 
shock people." 

After choosing his intimate friend, Keble, the 
author of the " Christian Year," as his confessor, he 
framed a set of rules for his daily life. The following 
are some of them: "To aim to offer all acts to God, 
and to pray for his grace in them before commencing 
them; as, conversations; while people are coming 
into a room or before I enter a room ; each separate 
letter which I write ; each course of study ; and in the 
course of each of these, if continued long ; and His 
pardon at the end, and note down omissions. Never, 



Discipline of the Church. 287 

if I can, to look at beauty of nature without inward 
confession of unworthiness. To make mental acts, 
from time to time, of being inferior to every one I 
see. To drink cold water at dinner, as only fit to be 
where there is not a drop 'to cool this flame.' To 
make the fire to me from time to time the type of hell. 
Always to lie down in bed, confessing that I am un- 
worthy to lie down except in hell, but so praying to 
lie down in the Everlasting Arms." He desired 
" not to smile if he could help it, except with children, 
or when it seems a matter of love, like one just escap- 
ing out of the fire." He wore a hair shirt in the day- 
time unless ill, used a hard seat by day and a hard 
bed by night. He considered his wife's death, his 
suspension from preaching by the university for 
teaching false doctrine, and the death of his daughter, 
as punishments for his sins. However much there 
is to be granted to that spiritual vision which, the 
clearer it becomes and the nearer we get to God, leads 
to the abhorrence of one's self in dust and ashes ; and 
however valuable are these habits of self-recollection 
and self-restraint to any real holiness of character, and 
however much better overscrupulousness may be 
than a careless and ease-loving forgetfulness of God 
in the daily life, — yet it must be said that there is no 
warrant for this legalism and lifelong aspect of pen- 
itence in the New Testament. Paul passed out of the 
seventh into the eighth chapter of Romans, and did 
not wear a hair shirt when he wrote the Epistle to 
the Galatians. The freedom of Christ's Spirit, and 
the brotherhood with him in the Father's house, is 
exchanged for a yoke of servitude. The assurance 
and joy of the Christian life are not in the sacra- 



288 Worship and Discipline. 

ments, but in Christ himself. Not penance, but his 
word abiding, gives peace. This is the Christian 
faith. 

The greatest corruptions of this period came from 

that which was most sacred, the worship of the 

Corruptions Church. The development of liturgy at 

of these Ages. ^ e c i ose of the period caused the cessation 

Effect of _ 4 . r 

Elaborate of preaching, as a rule, at the public serv- 
Rituai. j ce This was especially the case with the 
Greek Church, with its more elaborate ritual. At the 
same time, in the East, the ritual was in the language 
of the people, and the laity were better educated, and 
so retained the use of the Holy Scriptures. In the 
West, Latin was retained as the language of the 
Church service, while both the service and the Scrip- 
ture were, in a tongue foreign to the speech of the 
people. The first translation of the Bible in the Latin 
Church into the language of any of the Teutonic 
peoples — Wycliffe's — was nearly eight hundred years 
later. 

With preaching and the Scriptures withdrawn 
from the people, the influence of the Church became 
almost altogether legal, or even magical, the spiritual 
and even intellectual influence almost altogether 
failed. Then the extravagant language used in the 
liturgies, or by the preachers, concerning the sacra- 
ment of the Lord's Supper, tended to convert the 
most solemn and pathetic service of the Church into 
a magical rite, and the extravagance of liturgical 
statement became the doctrine of the Church. 

Alongside of this perversion of what was holiest 
in the Church, the worship of her Lord, came the in- 
fluence of heathen elements, which not only corrupted 



Discipline of the Church. 289 

the spirituality of worship, but brought in polytheism 
instead of the worship of the Christian's God, one 
and triune. 

These corruptions came into the Church after the 
time of Constantine. It was not strange that imme- 
diately after the most prolonged and se- worship of 
verest of the persecutions that the Church Mart y rs - 
should reverence the martyrs who had died for the 
faith. The day of their martyrdom was celebrated as 
their birthday, and feasts were held at their graves. 
Augustine tells us of his mother, the saintly Monica, 
that, " as was the custom in Africa, she bore to the 
memory of the martyrs sacrificial beer, bread, and 
unmixed wine." Yet this was very like the heathen 
sacrifices at the graves of their dead. Splendid 
churches were erected over the places of the martyrs 1 
burial, as over the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul at 
Rome, and of many others. 

From the veneration of the martyrs came the in- 
vocation of the martyrs and of the saints. Legends 
of their lives and mighty works were re- worship of 
ceived as Holy Scripture, and recited at 5 * in t 8 - 
the feast-day set apart for their commemoration. 
They were supposed to have power to bless or in- 
jure. With the martyrs, they took the place of the 
old heathen heroes and city founders. So churches, 
communities, and cities came to have patron saints. 
In this way, as with the old heathen mythology, the 
helpful powers were classified and localized. To relics 
of the martyrs were added those of the saints. These 
were almost indispensable to the consecration of a 
church, and were greatly prized by heathen converts 
of royal or noble birth or station. Often they were 

19 



290 Worship and Discipline. 

used as protective charms, like the heathen amulets. 
With this veneration of relics, mostly spurious, grew 
the desire to make pilgrimages to the holy places. 

The life of the monks was no offensive novelty to 
Worship th° se who knew the heathen ascetics, while 
of the the idea of virginity, on which rested the 
virgin Mary. conven t ua i Hf e of the nuns, was familiar 
for centuries through the Vestal Virgins. So with 
the increasing reverence of the Virgin Mary, culmi- 
nating in the feast of the Purification on February 
2d, sanctioned by the Emperor Justinian, 542, and of 
her Ascension, or Assumption, August 15th, by Em- 
peror Maurice, 582-602. To her came naturally those 
ideas long associated with the worship of Astarte* 
Isis, and Cybele. 

In like manner with many of the insignia and 
vestments of the clergy. The miter of the bishop 
Heathen was ^ a ^ en from the head-dress of the Per- 
Eiements in sian priests ; the scarlet robes of the car- 
christian dinal from those of the heathen priest, the 
Worship. Roman flamen. The alb, a white linen 
tunic with sleeves reaching to the feet, was an Egyp- 
tian sacred dress. The dalmatic, a short-sleeved shirt, 
was worn by Commodus and Elagabalus, and is now 
the outer garment worn by the deacon at the Roman 
Catholic mass. 

Thus says Schultze: "The worship of the Chris- 
tians had elements which, in their outward appear- 
ance, or in their contents, or both, must have seemed 
familiar to the heathen. So with the old names — tem- 
ple, holy temple area, the all holiest, and the altar of 
sacrifice. The table form of the Christian altar gave 
way in the fourth century to a stone altar, which 



Discipline of the Church. 291 

reminded more of the antique altar. There, in the 
liturgical language, they spoke of offering and sacri- 
fice, and the action of sacrifice was really exhibited. 
Also the name sacerdos, for the Christian priest, 
turned back to the word of antiquity. In the wor- 
ship itself there did not fail the use of incense, which 
indeed had been the case of the Old Testament rites, 
but which yet was in union with the antique (heathen) 
worship." 

It is not intended to convey the impression that 
these heathen influences were the only ones that 
wrought these transformations in the Church. Some 
of them are as old as human nature, and found in 
every religion of mere human development. Others 
were from the influence of a time when culture and 
intellectual life paled before the advancing floods of 
barbarism ; some from an attempt to adapt to the 
Church some features of the Jewish ritual ; but cir- 
cumstances made the polytheistic trend of the heathen 
influence strong and effective. 

This chapter on Christian worship may well close 
with a sketch of the greatest of Christian preachers, 
one of the holiest of men, and whose service in the 
ordering of Christian worship is recognized chrysostom. 
in the name given to the liturgy most in His Life * 
use in the Greek Catholic Church. John, surnamed 
Chrysostom, or the Golden Mouth, was born at Anti- 
och in 347. Secundus, his father, was a military 
officer of high rank. Anthusa, his mother, was left a 
widow at twenty years of age. She was wealthy, in- 
telligent, devout, and devoted herself to the training 
of her son. She appears to have been superior to 
the women of her time, who were uneducated, kept in 



292 Worship and Discipline. 

unnatural seclusion until marriage, and often treated 
by their husbands with severity and distrust. John 
had as teacher the most famous rhetorician of his 
time, Iyibanius. At the age of twenty-three he be- 
came a Christian, and was baptized. He wished to 
abandon secular life and become a monk. His mother 
took him into the room where he was born, and im- 
plored him to remain with her, who had given her 
life for him, until her death. He yielded to her 
pleadings, but at her death carried out his purpose, 
and began the life of a monk in 375/ 

For six years he remained with the community, 
or until 381, when, in the thirty-fifth year of his age, 
he was ordained deacon. Five years later, when 
His Work at forty, he was ordained presbyter. After 
Antioch, serving as deacon, he devoted his life to 
preaching. For seventeen years he labored in Anti- 
och, and six in Constantinople, and became the most 
famous preacher of all the Christian ages. Augustine, 
Iveo, and Ambrose and Caesarius of Aries were the 
great preachers of the West; but none of these, nor 
the great preachers of the East, with Gregory Nazi- 
anzen at their head, approached the abundance, the 
variety and excellence of the great presbyter of An- 
tioch. In a sedition in a circus at Antioch, in 387, 
the statues of the Emperor Theodosius and his wife 
were overthrown, and the emperor was justly in- 
censed. While the populace was awaiting the pun- 
ishment of their misdeeds, which the Bishop Flavian 
exerted himself to avert, John preached to the people 
his justly celebrated sermons on the " Statues." He 
led the people to penitence, comforted them in their 
suspense, and exhorted them to perseverance in good 



Discipline of the Church. 293 

works when arrived the news of their pardon. While 
in Antioch, he wrote the treatise on " The Priest- 
hood," the most of his " Commentaries/ ' and the 
most renowned of his sermons. On the twenty-first 
of February, 398, in his fifty-first year, without effort 
on his part, he was consecrated Archbishop and Patri- 
arch of Constantinople. 

The last ruler of the undivided Empire of Rome 
was dead, and the Government had fallen into the 
feeble hands of Arcadius, the son of Theodosius the 
Great — hands too weak to hold the reins, Chrysostom 
which were seized by court favorites or by at constan- 
ts ambitious wife. The first of these tin °P ,e - 
favorites was Rufinus, master of offices, and who, on 
the death of Theodosius, became regent of the East. 
Rufinus was an able man, but one of the most avari- 
cious, unscrupulous, and treacherous characters of a 
time when baseness and violence ruled in the public 
service. He was killed by the soldiers of Gainas, a 
Gothic general, November 27, 395. Eutropius, the 
eunuch, succeeded to the vacant post. He had sup- 
planted Rufinus, who intended his daughter to be the 
imperial consort of Arcadius. Eutropius secured his 
marriage with Eudoxia, an able and ambitious woman, 
the daughter of a Frankish general, April 25, 395. 
Further to secure his position, Eutropius called to the 
capital the celebrated preacher of Antioch. At first, 
Chrysostom was favored by the empress. Eutropius, 
for his misrule, was banished to Cyprus, and after- 
ward brought back to Heraclea, and executed, 399. 
The Gothic General Gainas was defeated and killed 
in an insurrection, December 23, 401. From hence- 
forth the will of Eudoxia was supreme in the State. 



294 Worship and Discipline. 

The 'strict preaching of Chrysostom alienated her 
from him. Theophilus, the great Patriarch and Pri- 
mate of Alexandria, had consecrated John as Arch- 
bishop of Constantinople. He was envious that the 
new patriarch had been taken from Antioch instead 
of Alexandria. His one desire was to make Alexan- 
dria the great See of the East. In 401, some monks, 
called the " Tall Brothers," came to Constantinople, 
and complained of ill usage from Theophilus. Chry- 
sostom, while respecting their excommunication, inter- 
ceded for them. Theophilus answered him angrily. 
Eudoxia heard their story, and summoned Theophi- 
lus to Constantinople to answer for his conduct. In 
the meantime Chrysostom made a tour of three 
months in Asia Minor, deposing immoral bishops, 
and setting the affairs of the Churches in order, and, at 
the same time, raising up a host of enemies against 
himself. During the absence of Chrysostom, the 
emissaries of Theophilus won the empress to his side. 
He came, accompanied by Epiphanius, and, with 
rich gifts, wrought upon the bishops and the court. 
He scorned to plead to the charge against him, but 
Council of proceeded to act as a judge, calling a Coun- 
TheOak. c {\ a t a CO unty estate of the empress near 
Constantinople, called The Oak, June, 403, to inquire 
into the orthodoxy of Origen, and to hear com- 
plaints against Chrysostom. The patriarch of the 
capital refused to appear at a Council packed by his 
enemies. The question of the orthodoxy of Origen 
was dropped; and Epiphanius, seeing through the 
intrigues of Theophilus, sailed for Cyprus, but died 
on the way. The Council of The Oak deposed Chry- 
sostom for maladministration, and handed him over to 



Discipline of the Church. 295 

the emperor on a veiled charge of treason, which it 
was hoped would lead to a sentence of death. 
Chrysostom withdrew into banishment; but thor- 
oughly frightened by an earthquake, the empress re- 
called him in three days. In spite of his endeavors, 
Chrysostom's return was a triumphal entry. Theo- 
philus fled to Alexandria. In September of the same 
year the statue of the empress was erected in the 
square in front of the great door of the church. 
Chrysostom preached against it as a manifestation of 
pride and vanity amounting to sacrilege. The wrath 
of the empress was inappeasable. She heard, falsely 
however, that in a public discourse he had compared 
her to Herodias seeking the head of John. From 
henceforth reconciliation was impossible. John had 
not waited for the annulment of the decree, unjust 
and invalid, of the Council of The Oak. 

On that charge, he was again deposed, and, in 
Easter week, arrested and carried away to banish- 
ment to Cucusus on the Armenian frontier. Chrysos- 
tom appealed to Innocent I of Rome, who Banishment 
recognized his orthodoxy, and, with the and Death. 
Emperor Honorius, demanded his return. On the 
way to Cucusus, his guards, treated him with brutal 
severity, seeking to end his days on the journey. He 
was kindly received at Cucusus. Friends from Anti- 
och visited him; and he kept up a constant corre- 
spondence with his flock, from whom he had been 
torn. Well has it been said that these three years 
were the most glorious of his life. The Empress 
Eudoxia died six months after his banishment ; but 
his enemies only added to the severity of his treat- 
ment. In the winter of 405-6 he was taken to the 



296 Worship and Discipline. 

mountain town of Arbissus, sixty miles from Cucusus. 
There, in the bitter winter weather, and amid more 
savage men, John, a native of sunny Antioch, suffered 
severely, and his ever-feeble health was greatly im- 
paired. On returning to Cucusus, he revived again, 
and hoped yet to resume his work at Constantinople. 
His enemies now secured his banishment, in 407, to 
Pityus, the most inhospitable spot in the empire, on 
the eastern shore of the Black Sea. The guards who 
were to enforce the decree spared no pains to hasten 
the death of the illustrious prisoner. In great weak- 
ness, as he passed through Comana, he asked the 
guards to delay the journey; but they hurried on. 
He fainted in the way, and was carried back to the 
monastery. Asking for white garments, he distrib- 
uted his own raiment among the clergy who were 
present. Having received the Eucharist, he spoke a 
few farewell words, and repeating his favorite motto, 
" Glory be to God for all things, Amen," went to be 
with his L,ord. 

The letters of Chrysostom, written in his banish- 
ment, even more than his sermons, testify to his 
genuine and exalted Christian character. Equally 

His eminent as a preacher and saint, he wrought 
character. j n a generation unworthy of him. The 
place he was called to fill was most difficult. Few 
could have succeeded ; but by temperament and race 
he was unfitted for such a struggle. Great orators 
are seldom leaders of men. Demosthenes, Cicero, 
Peter the Hermit, and even Savonarola, are significant 
examples. The gifts of moderation, judgment, and 
decision are not those by which an orator gains suc- 
cess. On the other hand, no Roman or English prel- 



Discipline of the Church. 297 

ate, after his return from banishment, would so soon, 
or so helplessly, have been at the mercy of his foes. 

Chrysostom is represented as small in stature, his 
frame attenuated by the austerities of the monastery 
and his habitually ascetic mode of living, Personal 
his cheeks pale and hollow, his eyes deeply Appearance. 
set ; but bright and piercing, his broad and lofty fore- 
head furrowed by wrinkles, his head bald. He fre- 
quently delivered his discourses sitting in the reading 
desk, in order to be nearer to his hearers and well raised 
above them. His health was not good ; his digestion 
never recovered from his life in the monastery, and 
perhaps caused an irritability of temper, of which his 
enemies complained. 

The source of his power in the pulpit was his un- 
rivaled knowledge of the Scriptures. The six years 
spent in the monastery gave him a mas- Sourceofhis 
tery both of its letter and meaning, which Power as a 
was of first importance to a great Christian Preacher - 
preacher. He grew great on the thoughts of God. 
Then he loved men; his great aim, of which he never 
lost sight, was to convert souls. This gave earnest- 
ness to his preaching. The sermons of Chrysostom 
and his exposition were clear, logical, full of apt and 
versatile illustration ; his language simple, yet re- 
fined. The ordinary reader can not turn his pages, in 
spite of all difference of age, race, speech, and some- 
times luxuriant rhetoric, without feeling the genuine 
Christian spirit, and being both interested and helped 
in the spiritual life. Their main characteristics are 
their ethical aim, their straightforward common sense, 
and the warmth of Christian love. The same qual- 
ities added to wide knowledge of the Scriptures, 



298 Worship and Discipline. 

through mastery of the Greek tongue and the use of 
the historic and grammatical method in interpretation, 
make his commentaries of lasting value. 

A biographer says : " It is this rare union of powers 
which constitutes his superiority to almost all the 
other Christian preachers with whom he might be 
compared. Savonarola had all, and more than all, his 
fire and vehemence, but untempered by his sober, 
calm good sense, and wanting his rational method of 
interpretation. Wesley is almost his match in simple, 
straightforward, practical exhortation, but does not 
rise into flights of eloquence like his. The great 
French preachers resemble him in his more ornate 
and declamatory vein; but they lack that simpler 
common-sense style of address which equally dis- 
tinguished him." 



fart Rfilr. 



THE NEW SOCIETY. 

299 



Chapter I. 

THE OLD SOCIAL ORDER IN ROME. 

IT is always difficult to give an accurate estimate 
and representation of those relations of men with each 
other which we call society, and of that 

-,-r i 1 1 t . Distinctive 

society s life and moral value. It is not a Difference 
light task to depict that social life whose between * 

. n * , 1 Heathen 

influence presses upon us as lmpalpably a nd a 
and unceasingly as the air we breathe and Chris ^an 

r , . , ^ . , Civilization. 

of which we are a part. Every resident 
in a foreign land realizes how imperfect must be such 
an estimate with narrower resources of observation 
and materials for judgment. How then can we ar- 
rive at results of permanent worth in endeavoring to 
reconstruct the social order of past generations. 

Against this difficulty of the task may be placed 
its necessity. No man can avoid some judgment 
upon the social order and moral life of the world 
in which he lives. Nor can he long remain in a for- 
eign country and not feel the proportionate value of 
these resultant and main factors of the national life. 
Indeed, without this informing life the history of past 
ages is but a mass of dates and names, as devoid of 
interest as of profit. With this, not only are they 
again alive, but speak with no uncertain sound in re- 
gard to some of the deepest and most perplexing 
problems men have to face. The endeavors, failures, 
and successes of these ages have a living interest 

301 



302 The New Society. 

and an abiding lesson. The society of those times 
was as much alive as ours, and its lessons in social 
dynamics are much easier followed and quite as profit- 
able. We see but the trend and flow of things around 
us ; it is not seldom difficult to distinguish the main 
current from its divided parts and swirling eddies. 
We see all things in process ; very little of final result. 
With past ages the difficulty is, at the same time, less 
and different. With them there is little question of 
the results ; they are even more apparent than the 
process by which they have been reached. Both pro- 
cesses and results find often their best interpretation 
in the life of our time reflected upon them, and they 
show the results of processes with which we are daily 
familiar. The past and the present are the comple- 
ments of each other. 

The nature of man does not greatly change; the 
tendency of his desires, the aim of his endeavors, 
the possibilities of his achievements may, but these 
changes are not so great but that they are related to 
and explain each other. History never repeats itself; 
for the principles of social organization and the laws 
of their actions are uniform, not the particular cir- 
cumstances or example. The fundamental principles 
of human nature and the great laws of social organ- 
ism do not change, but their action is modified by 
those principles of growth and retrogression which 
distinguish the sapling from the giant of the forest, 
and the oak firmly rooted through the storms of a 
thousand years from his neighbor whose rotten heart 
needs but the first tempest to reveal its inward decay. 
History separates, as nothing else, the transitory from 
the permanent, the seeming from the real. 



Old Social Order in Rome. 303 

To estimate the new life which Christianity 
brought into society, and the transformation which it 
wrought, we must understand in some measure the 
old order which it replaced. If there are those who 
think that Christianity has, and has had, but little 
influence upon human affairs in this world ; that it 
is concerned exclusively with a world of which our 
senses can give no positive knowledge, and of prepa- 
ration for that world to the neglect, if not the despite, 
of this ; that it is a system of belief in part proved 
false or unfitted to our time, and in part concerned 
only with that which can neither be proved nor dis- 
proved, and therefore may be ignored, or might better 
be done away, — he needs no further answer than the 
careful and open-minded consideration of the facts to 
which attention is called in these pages. If there are 
others who think all religions are in the main alike, 
and the distinctive virtues and energies of Christianity 
are only what it has in common with other faiths, 
they need only to place these facts before them, and 
live among them, to realize that the difference be- 
tween a heathen and a Christian civilization is the 
most profound social difference in the history of the 
race. The most splendid society of Athens or Rome, 
of Cordova or Delhi, is more alien to us than the 
crassest ignorance and crudeness of the times of St. 
L,ouis or Charlemagne. There are possibilities of 
power and growth, of permanence and beneficence in 
the one, which are impossible in the other. Chris- 
tianity as a determining factor in civilization can not 
be ignored, and is not likely to be done away. 

No better proof of this statement can be found 
than some adequate conception of the social and moral 



304 The New Society. 

life of the opening century at once of the Roman 
Empire and the Christian religion. The materials of 
its representation are drawn from its contemporary 
heathen literature, its monuments and inscriptions, 
its laws, its social customs and usages. To bring this 
life into a compass narrow enough for intelligent 
comprehension, we will take the generation living 
from Paul's first missionary journey to the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, from 40 to 70 A. D., the age of the 
active ministry of the apostles. We will consider 
briefly in order the life of the court and aristocracy, 
the condition of women, children, and slaves, the in- 
fluence of the literature, philosophy, religion, and 
amusements of the people. These, in connection 
with the political and economic life sketched in the 
first part, will furnish materials sufficiently full and 
accurate for both portrayal and estimate. 

Claudius came to the throne of the world, 41 A. D. 

He was fifty years of age, had never been thought of 

for the empire, and possessed few of the 

Heathen qualities which fit men for rule. He was 

Rome. industrious and of literary tastes, and had 

The Court. „ . . . ' , , 

he lived in private station would have 
maintained the character of a quiet and respected 
gentleman. In the foremost position of the world, 
he was ruled by his wives and his freedmen, and his 
timidity x made him cruel. His first wife had borne 
him two children, when he divorced her because he 
believed she had threatened his life. His second 
wife, according to the prevalent custom, was divorced 
for incompatibility. 

Messalina, his third wife, he married before he 
was emperor. She was the daughter of Antonia, the 



Old Social Order in Rome. 305 

granddaughter of Mark Antony and Octavia, while 
Claudius was the son of Antonia's sister. The next 
year she bore a son who was called Britan- Me8Sanna 
nicus, from his father's campaign in that the Daughter 
island ; they had also a daughter, Octavia. of Antonla - 
She assumed part in the government, and, without 
consulting either the Senate or the emperor, she gave 
away the command of provinces and legions. She 
corrupted or intimidated the judges, and sold Roman 
citizenships and the offices of state. The freedmen, 
Polybius and Narcissus, were the instruments by 
which she ruled. Her morals were the most disrep- 
utable, and she was relentlessly cruel where her 
fears, her avarice, or her passions were concerned. 
Julia, the beautiful niece of Claudius, she caused to be 
put to death, because she feared she might become 
her rival, and also the husband of her victim, and his 
sister, another Julia, who was the daughter of Livia, 
w T ife of Augustus. She caused the death of Appius 
Silanus, who rejected her advances ; Julius Catonius, 
who was about to impeach her ; and Valerius Atticus, 
that she might gain possession of his estate. One of 
the freedmen, Polybius, was executed at her order. 
The other powerful favorite feared for his life, and 
determined she should die. Until this time her adul- 
teries had been with dissolute nobles and actors ; she 
now sought to win a handsome Roman youth, Cor- 
nelius Silius, who would have nothing to do with her, 
so corrupt was her character, but that he expected, 
through her, the death of her husband and a share in 
the throne. While Claudius was absent she publicly 
married Silius with all the rights of a legal connubium. 
The freedman, Narcissus, made use of this event to 

20 



306 The New Society. 

show the emperor his danger, and finally, on his own 
responsibility, signed her death-warrant. She was 
killed by a tribune of the guards in the gardens of 
IyUcullus, a portion of the domains which had be- 
longed to her victim, Valerius Atticus, in the fall of 
the same year as her disgraceful marriage. 

In the next year, 49, Claudius married Agrippina, 
the widow of a dissolute noble. By her first husband 
she was aunt of Messalina and the mother 
of Nero. He died a natural death, the re- 
sult of his excesses, but she was accused of shorten- 
ing the days of her second husband, a man of great 
wealth. Agrippina herself was of the highest nobil- 
ity; she was a sister of the Emperor Caligula, her 
aunt was the wife of Tiberius, while she herself was 
the granddaughter of Augustus and niece of Claudius, 
whom she married. Being at the same time the 
mother of Nero, she stood in the most intimate rela- 
tionship with each of the five emperors of the house 
of Julius Caesar. Her father was an able general, 
and she was born at his headquarters, named after 
her, later, Colonia Agrippa (now Cologne), A. D. 17. 
Her mother, Agrippina, in moral character, in beauty, 
and intellectual endowments, was one of the noblest 
women of imperial times. 

Agrippina, the fourth wife of Claudius, was a wise 
and energetic, dissolute and unscrupulous, beautiful 
and ambitious woman. She ruled with her husband, 
on whose coins her head appears. For two years she 
labored with the freedman, Pallas, to induce Claudius 
to set aside his own son Britannicus, and make her 
son Nero, three years older, the heir of the throne. 
She succeeded in this plan, A. D. 51. She then caused 



Old Social Order in Rome. 307 

the death of Julius Silanus, the husband of Octavia, 
the emperor's daughter and sister of Britannicus, in 
order that she might marry Nero, which she did in 53. 
Then she secured the death of L,ollia Paullina as a 
possible rival; of her sister-in-law, Domitia Lepida, 
the mother of Messalina ; and of the brother of her 
daughter-in-law Octavia's first husband, who, like 
herself, was a descendant of Augustus. Having 
assured the succession to her son Nero, she resolved 
on the death of her husband, the emperor. He was 
poisoned with the aid of L,ocusta and a Greek physi- 
cian, Xenophon, A. D. 54. For some time she ruled 
with Nero, who came to the throne at the age of sev- 
enteen. A few years later, Nero wished to divorce 
Octavia, one of the few pure women of the imperial 
house, in order to marry Poppoea Sabina. His mother 
opposed this project, whereupon he decided she 
should die. Nero invited her to visit him at Baiae, a 
seaport town south of Rome. She went by ship; 
there was a pretended reconciliation, with hypocrisy, 
on both sides. On her return, the ship was so ar- 
ranged as to go to pieces when they got out to sea. 
Agrippina saved herself by swimming, and fled to a 
villa near the L,ucrine Lake, and informed her son of 
her happy escape. Nero ordered Anicetus, the com- 
mander of the fleet, to kill her. He went to her villa 
with a band of men. They surprised her in her bed- 
room, and she fell under the strokes of the tribune, 
A. D. 59. Messalina had caused the death of Agrip- 
pina's sister, and another sister's husband ; Agrippina 
brought to death the mother of Messalina, and the 
husband of her daughter Octavia. 

Nero, the matricide, had nine years yet to reign. 



308 The New Society. 

He had caused the death of Britannicus — his cousin by 
Nero. birth, brother by adoption, and brother-in- 
law by marriage — by poison, in his presence, and at 
his own table. His sister Octavia, the wife of Nero, 
he put to death in 62. In the same year he married 
Poppcea Sabina, who died three years later in conse- 
quence of a brutal kick from her husband. He caused 
the execution of the poet Lucan, and his old tutor, 
Seneca, of Paetus, the noblest of the senators, and of 
Corbulo, the ablest of the generals. Licentiousness 
and cruelty have made his name a byword. He was 
the first persecutor of the Christians, and under him 
Peter and Paul died as martyrs. In consequence of a 
revolt he fled, but took his own life, dying just as the 
executioner arrived, A. D. 68. 

There succeeded the short and troubled reigns of 
Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, when, in 69, Vespasian 
came to the throne. He was an economical and tem- 
perate prince, and brought back some reverence and 
order to the court. His son Titus died an early death 
in consequence of licentiousness, while the other son, 
Domitian, lived in adultery with Julia, Titus's daugh- 
ter, whose death he caused. Adultery, incest, and 
brutal, disgusting cruelty stain the names of most of 
the emperors of this time. In the second century 
the relations of Hadrian and Antinous, the vices of 
Fausta, wife of Marcus Aurelius, and the excesses of 
their son Commodus, kept up the evil reputation, 
which did not fail of representatives in the century 
succeeding, in Caracalla and Elagabalus, until the 
hereditary monarchy died out, and only soldiers bore 
rule. 

It is sad and distasteful to read such a tale ; but it 



Old Social Order in Rome. 309 

should be told. The court influenced the life of the 
time more than in any age since. If Nero showed a 
preference for eloquence or music, rhetoricians and 
musicians abounded; and when Marcus Aurelius 
came to the throne, the court and society became phi- 
losophers ; also, because nothing like it can be found 
in the Christian ages, the nearest parallel being found 
in the renewed Roman heathenism of the court of 
Pope Alexander VI. Such bloodthirstiness and sensu- 
ality may be found in Oriental courts, but not again 
in Europe. Even in courts the most corrupt, Chris- 
tian sentiment has been some restraint, and such 
abysses of corruption and breath of moral pestilence 
has not again come upon Western civilization. 

While this sickening taint so infected the rulers of 
the world and the imperial house, the preaching of 
the gospel of Jesus just began to form the new soci- 
ety, in the midst of the dying world, which was to 
bring in the new social order. While Messalina, 
Agrippina, and Nero ruled the world, the first genera- 
tion of Christians received the gospel. What a set- 
ting for the books of the New Testament, most of 
which were written in this period. Is there in hu- 
man history a greater contrast than between these 
teachings and the forces which then ruled the world ? 
No wonder that Christians spoke of the world as lying 
in the wicked one, and thought of the speedy second 
coming of the Lord as the only solution of the intol- 
erable situation around them. 

The court may be much more corrupt than the 
people ; it is seldom better. A surer index to the 
morals of society is the condition of women. The ma- 
trons of Rome's early time were pure and noble, 



310 The New Society, 

worthy of respect and reverence like I,ucretia, or Cor- 
nelia, the mother of the Gracchi. The profound and ter- 
Women rible corruption of the civil wars was never 
Divorce, cured. This is shown in the frequency of 
divorce. In the time just before the empire, we find 
C. Sulpicius divorced his wife because she went on 
the streets unveiled; another Roman noble because 
she had spoken confidentially with a freedman ; and 
another because she had gone to the play without his 
knowledge. So with the generation before Augustus : 
Cicero separated from his first wife in order to marry 
a richer one ; and from his second because she did not 
grieve enough over the death of his daughter Julia. 
The strictly moral Cato divorced his first wife, who 
had borne him two children ; and delivered his second 
wife, Marcia, with the consent of her father, to his 
friend Hortensius, after whose death he married her 
the second time. Pompey rejected his first wife, 
Antistia, in order to form a relationship with Sulla 
through marriage with his stepdaughter ^Emilia, 
who, for this purpose, was compelled to separate from 
her husband, Glabrio. After her death he married 
Mucia, whom he divorced in order to marry Caesar's 
daughter Julia. Under the empire the condition of 
these relations was worse. Of Julius Caesar and Au- 
gustus we can not record what was the common talk 
of the streets, and denied by none of their biographers. 
The women began to divorce their husbands with- 
out alleging any ground except their preference for 
Dissolute- another. Juvenal speaks of a woman of 
ness. t^ nobility who had eight husbands in five 
years. Roman women were more susceptible to the 
moral contagion of their time, from the fact that all 



Old Social Order in Rome. 311 

their knowledge and experience of life came after their 
marriage. They had childhood, but no girlhood. The 
majority of them married soon after the twelfth year, 
and before they were fourteen. It is not strange that 
in an era of change, of riches, of power and luxury, 
with all old bonds of custom and habit broken down, 
and no influence of religion to restrain them, they 
should run to the same excess of riot as the men. 
Roman writers, from Horace down, unanimously tes- 
tify to the unchastity of the women. Seneca says : 
" A man who has not formed an immoral relation 
with a married woman is despised by them." This 
evil did not cease with the doing away with the worst 
excesses of the court in the first century. Dio, nearly 
two hundred years later, tells of the consul in conse- 
quence of the Septimian law against adultery receiving 
in one year three thousand complaints. 

To this widespread and profound dissoluteness, 
contributed in no small degree, besides the pollution 
of the court, the corrupting influence of 

Causes. 

literature — like the writings of Ovid and 
Martial, and many another poet ; the pictures on the 
walls, which, as Propertius said, " put out the eyes of 
innocence ;" the seductions of the theater, of which 
Friedlander says, "The immoral effects of the theater 
can hardly be represented great or terrible enough;" 
the scenes of slaughter and martyrdom in the arena, 
which seared the conscience and killed every tender 
feeling; besides the incitements of the banquets of 
which Tacitus speaks. 

This immorality, so fearfully prevalent, was not 
universal. Had it been, Rome could not have con- 
tinued to exist three generations, instead of twelve, 



312 The New Society. 

under the empire. The inscriptions tell a different 
tale of family affection and family life. Pliny in his 
letters introduces us to a circle of noble 
and excellent women. He tells us of Arria, 
the wife of Paetus, one of the noblest and purest sen- 
ators of Rome. Her husband and son were at the 
same time dangerously ill. The son, of rare worth, 
died. Arria bore him to the grave without his father 
knowing of his death. She answered Paetus's ques- 
tions with assumed ease, — he was better, he had slept. 
When she could no longer restrain her tears, she left 
the room and gave way to her grief. When its vio- 
lence was spent, she returned with dry eyes and placid 
countenance. Paetus recovered from his sickness. 
He was concerned in the conspiracy of Scribonianus, 
who raised a revolt in Illyria in 42. The chief was 
killed; Paetus was taken prisoner and brought to 
Rome. Arria sought to gain access to him on the 
ship which conveyed him to the capital, in the guise 
of a slave, such as always waited on a man of his 
rank. Failing in this, she hired a boat and followed 
the ship. When her son-in-law adjured her to pre- 
serve her own life, and said, among other things, "Do 
you wish then your daughter to die with me, if I 
must die?" " If she has lived as long and as harmo- 
niously with you as I with Paetus, yes," was the re- 
ply. She was then carefully watched, but she said : 
" You accomplish nothing. You can cause that I suf- 
fer a harder death; that I shall die you can not pre- 
vent." With these words, she sprang from her seat 
and dashed her head against the wall. As they 
brought her back to life, she said, "I said I would 
find a hard way to death if you denied me an easy 



Old Social Order in Rome. 313 

one." When occasion came, she snatched a dagger 
and plunged it into her breast, and then handing it to 
her hesitating husband, said, "It does not hurt, 
Paetus." 

Her daughter Arria, and granddaughter Fannia, 
were worthy of her. They saw their husbands slain 
in the imperial proscriptions of Nero and Domitian. 
They would have followed the example of the elder 
Arria ; but at the dying request of those they loved, 
they consented to live for their children. Pliny tes- 
tifies that Fannia was as attractive and gracious as 
she was noble. 

If the condition of women was such as the Roman 
writers depict, that of the children could not have 
been favorable. They were sinned against 
before their birth. Well said the husband 
of Agrippina, that " the son of such parents could 
bring no good to the State." That son was Nero. 
Abortion, or the exposure of children to death or a 
worse fate, was common during the whole period of 
the heathen empire. When the children grew up 
they were intrusted to the care of slaves, with whom 
they always began and often completed their educa- 
tion, and from which association, with rare exceptions, 
they received an early moral taint. They were in the 
power of their father, who could sell them or put 
them to death. 

The corrupting influence of their time came in 
upon them from every side, — from art, from litera- 
ture, from the games. When we take into Progressive 
account the evil example of the parents Corruption. 
and the society in which they moved, the effect of 
slavery, enormous, licentious, and cruel, in which they 



314 The New Society. 

were reared, and the utter lack of religious and feeble 
moral restraint, the progressive deterioration of Ro- 
man society, literature, art, and national life and 
power, is seen to be inevitable. Indeed, we can see 
why Christianity could not save the State, and why 
the race must die. The inward virus and physical 
taint of generations of moral corruption could not be 
purged away. The barbarians — rude, violent, and un- 
cultured, but pure — could alone supply the vigorous 
physical life necessary for the new world. 

No feature of Roman society was more prominent 
or more influenced its moral condition than slavery. 
slaves ^ e s * aves °f Rome were recruited, in the 
Sources of first place, from captives taken in war. 
uppiy. f k e Jewish captives are represented on 
the Arch of Titus. Besides the prisoners sent to the 
Egyptian mines after the Jewish wars, or sent into 
the provinces to fight in the ampitheater, or reserved 
for the conqueror's triumph at Rome, ninety thou- 
sand were sold as slaves. Man-stealing was practiced 
by pirates. Marauders on the frontiers, highwaymen, 
and the unwary were enticed, even in cities. These 
victims were sold in the markets as slaves. Again, 
the judgments of the courts, sometimes for crimes 
and misdemeanors, but more often for debt from the 
failure to pay taxes or the usurious loans, kept up 
the supply. Then, of course, the children of slaves, 
though by no means keeping up the full number, 
formed a large portion of the whole. 

The rapid advance in wealth and the habits of 
luxury accompanying the creation of great establish- 
ments, the formation of immense estates and the driv- 
ing out of the peasant proprietors, the use of slaves in 



Old Social Order in Rome. 315 

trade and manufactures, produced a demand which 
only an increasing number of slaves could supply. 

On the rural estates, there were special classes of 
slaves to work in the fields, to care for the olive- 
orchards and vineyards, to look after each classes of 
kind of stock; as horses, cattle, sheep, and slaves. 
swine. So those who had charge of the fruit garden, 
the vegetable garden, the bees, the poultry and birds, 
the fish and game in the parks. 

In the urban home, the porter stood at the door 
in chains. Female slaves were numerous in the 
apartments of the women, and their mistresses 
treated them with as great rigor as the masters did 
the slaves that were employed in the field and in 
other service. Slaves of different kinds had charge of 
the carpets and the furniture, of the kitchen utensils 
and provisions, the art collections and the wardrobes. 
For personal service there were slaves for the cham- 
ber, the toilet, the bath, the kitchen, service at the 
table, and even bearers of sedan chairs instead of 
horses. Slaves were also the accountants, the super- 
intendents, readers, secretaries, librarians, copyists, 
teachers, musicians, actors, artists, dwarfs, deformities, 
and fools. When the master walked abroad, slaves — 
the anteambulones — went before him ; slaves — the pedi- 
sequi — went behind him ; and a slave — the nomencla- 
tor — walked by his side. When a lady went out, those 
slaves who followed her bore her sandals, fan, and 
parasol. 

Slaves were much more numerous in Italy in pro- 
portion to the free population than in Number of 
Rome. Yet, in the capital, they formed slaves. 
more than half the population. Friedlander's estimate 



316 The New Society. 

of the population of Rome, in which Mommsen in 
the main agrees, is as follows : 

Roman citizens, 320,000 

Their women and children, 300,000 

Senators and knights, 10,000 

Garrison, 20,000 

Strangers, 60,000 

Slaves, 900,000 

1,610,000* 

Mommsen says: " Before the law the slave was 
wholly without rights ; he was a thing, over whom the 
Slave with- master alone had authority. He could com- 
out Rights. p e j kim to the meanest or the most im- 
moral service. He could torture and kill him, or, old 
and sick, let him die of hunger.' ' 

The condition of the slave was worse in the 
country. In a great part of Italy the field-hands 
labored in chains during the day; at night they lodged 
in a prison dormitory; and they wore a brand- mark 
or the head half-shorn. 

Slaves could be sold as gladiators or courtesans. 
The punishments were cruel beyond recital. The 
very housemaids at the ladies' toilet wore no clothing 
on the upper part of the body, so that the mistress 
could prick or strike them more effectively. If driven 
to desperation so as to kill a master or mistress, all the 
slaves, sometimes hundreds or thousands in number, 
were put to death. 

During the second century there was a change for 

Causes of ^ e better in the condition of the slaves, 

Ameiiora- and an acknowledgment of their natural 

rights. Thus were recognized the slave's 

marriagej his family relationship, and his property. 

* See Appendix, Note C. 



Old Social Order in Rome. 317 

He became capable of marrying a wife or en- 
tering into a corporation. When he became free, 
he had some rightful place in society. This change 
came from the influence of Stoic philosophy, from 
political relations, which lessened the supply of pris- 
oners of war and those taken by force, and, above all, 
from the influence of the preaching of the gospel and 
of the growing Christian Church. 

The age of Augustus was the great age of Roman 
literature. Seventy-five years before, and as many 
after, include the great masterpieces of the 

_ . * r k Literature. 

Latin tongue. The emperors from Au- 
gustus to Marcus Aurelius, excluding the successors 
of Nero, who reigned less than a year, except Ves- 
pasion and Trajan, were all authors ; and all except 
Claudius were poets. Poets as well as poetry en- 
joyed the favor of the emperor. The great nobles of 
Augustus's reign, like Maecenas, Massala, and Pollio, 
were generous in their treatment of the illustrious 
Latin poets. In an age when no money was to be 
made by copyrights, the sole defense of the poet 
against hunger was the patronage of the wealthy. 
This was extended through the first century with the 
usual results of such patronage. The praises of the 
nobility were sung; their gardens, dwellings, furni- 
ture, the splendor and luxury of their apparel and 
entertainments were described ; and yet, though in 
the attitude of a beggar, a lean living was doled out 
to the poet. 

Seldom has poetry had a wider influence than in 
this age. The first training of an educated man be- 
gan with Homer, much as the Bible with us, but 
wholly with a literary aim. Then he early became 



318 The New Society. 

acquainted with, and studied all through the years 

he was in the grammar school, the works of Greek 

and Latin poets. This formed his lan- 

Influence of . , 

Poetry on guage as much as it controlled his taste ; 
Education so j-hat his soberest prose had a poetic color- 

and Life. . , *. . * f , 

ing and diction. After the grammar school, 
the boy passed into the hands of the rhetorician, where 
he studied the prose writers and declamation. In an 
age when there was no free public life and no liberty 
of public speech, and when even secret authorship 
was highly dangerous, the attention of educated men 
was turned to poetry and oratory, in which all were 
amateurs, and which gave a habit of unreality to their 
thought and its expression. If literature was the 
means of education, the fashion of court and of so- 
ciety, the occupation of educated men, and so the 
common topic of conversation in the social intercourse 
of men and women, it had no healing for the ills of 
the time. While lofty thoughts, inspiriting examples, 
and tasteful elegance do not fail in the greatest writers 
of these times, in Cicero and Iyivy, in Virgil and 
Horace, yet so much of it was tainted with the preva- 
lent moral corruption that there was, at the close of 
the first century, a reaction in favor of the Latin 
writers of the simpler and nobler days of Roman so- 
ciety, while men turned toward philosophy for that 
help to an improvement in morals which they sought 
in vain from literature. 

Indeed, the later part of the first century saw a 
reaction, though not a recovery, from the crimes and 

excesses of the rule of the house of Caesar. 

Vespasian wrought a change in the direc- 
tion of economical expenditure and a moral life. The 



Old Social Order in Rome. 319 

gain was well-nigh lost under his sons; but the 
tendency was felt until the death of Marcus Aurelius. 
The last age of the republic and the first of the em- 
pire had been as much an age of skepticism as of 
open profligacy and unblushing immorality. Skepti- 
cism never satisfies. The human heart and society 
soon weary of its mocking and fruitless negations. 
Roman society sought relief in strange Oriental wor- 
ship and philosophy. Philosophy — that is, the pro- 
foundest and truest thoughts concerning the essence, 
the origin, and the purpose and end of things — had 
been cultivated with rich results by the Greeks before 
the arms of Rome had passed the waters which sur- 
round the Italian Peninsula. Their efforts proved 
God to be a necessity of human thought, if the 
scheme of things is considered as a united whole, the 
craving of the human spirit after immortal life, and 
yet the inability of the unaided intellect to establish 
these positions ; so that the period closed in Pyrrhonic 
skepticism. The Romans were so wholly dependent 
on the Greeks for their philosophic guidance that a 
sketch of the course of Greek thought must be given 
to understand the philosophy which attracted them. 

The first philosophers sought to find the ultimate 
principle of things in something material, and founded 
the Ionic School. Thales, the first of these, i on ic school. 
600 B. C, placed it in water; Anaximenes, Pythagoras. 
570 B. C, in air ; Heraclitus, 500 B. C, in fire ; Anaxi- 
mander, 502 B. C, in infinite matter. Pythagoras, 
525 B. C, taught that the universe is a harmony built 
up of number and measure, and pervaded by a world 
soul. He taught metempsychosis, or that souls go 
into different human bodies. 



320 The New Society, 

The same problem was approached by the Eleatic 
School, from the side of thought irrespective of ma- 
Eieatic terial existence. Xenophanes of Colophon, 
School. 617 B. C, its founder, placed the principle of 
the universe in a pantheistic idea of unity ; Parmen- 
ides, 500 B. C, in simple being, in which thought and 
the thing thought are the same. Empedocles, 492-532 
B. C, thought of the universe as an eternal sphere, of 
which love and hate are the fundamental powers. De- 
mocritus, 460-350 B. C, was the founder of the Atomic 
philosophy. He conceived of the universe as an ag- 
gregate of allied and ordered atoms ^ the soul as com- 
posed of a sum of round fiery atoms. Anaxagoras, 
500-428 B. C, made a great advance on all previous 
thinking in making Nous, or Reason, the first princi- 
ple of things. 

Socrates, 470-399 B. C, made the second great 

advance, in turning the attention of thinkers and 

philosophers from the universe to man 

Socrates. ? 

himself. He gave an ethical tendency to 
philosophy. Its aim, he taught, should be self- 
knowledge, virtue, self-restraint, self-conquest, and a 
blameless life. 

The three Socratic schools, which represented 
three ethical tendencies springing from his teaching, 
socratic were the Cyrenaic, which held the highest 
Schools, good to be enjoyment; the Cynic, with 
which the highest good was renunciation, the avoid- 
ance of enjoyment; and the Megarian, with which 
the highest good was the eternal and all-existing 
being, sometimes represented as spirit and thought, 
and sometimes as God. 

Plato was the greatest scholar of Socrates, in many 



Old Social Order in Rome. 321 

respects the most illustrious thinker of Greece, and 
the greatest idealistic philosopher of all piato, 
time. His was a richly-gifted nature, at 429-3488.0. 
once poetic, speculative, and profoundly philosophic. 
In brief, these are his leading thoughts concerning 
God, the world, and man: 

Plato taught that God, in his being, is unknow- 
able, but he must be conceived as spiritual. The 
multitude know him only through appear- his Doc- 
ances ; the wise, by abstraction, knowledge. trines - ° od « 
The highest God is an intelligent, free, wise, and just 
spirit. He is the Former of the world, not its Creator ; 
for matter eternally exists. God is in no sense the 
Author of evil. 

The Divine reason organizes matter according to 
a pattern of eternal ideas. These ideas are a medium 
between God and matter. They are the 

TX . . , - * -, The World. 

Divine conceptions and thoughts, accord- 
ing to which, as types, God makes the things of 
the world. These ideas are eternal, unchangeable, 
and exist only in themselves, separate from all things, 
but the patterns of all that is. They are founded in 
God, and he is the all-embracing idea. The highest 
idea is God. 

The world and the stars have souls. The human 
soul is a reproduction in miniature of the world soul, 
of the same substance, formed after the 
same idea of the Good. In the human 
soul are three elements — the immortal soul, the reas- 
onable, the divine ; the better, masculine, courageous 
element; and the feminine sensuous element. The 
last two are mortal. The human soul existed in an- 
other state before birth. The soul is immortal, the 

21 



322 The New Society. 

fruit of the life before and kernel of the life to come. 
All virtue is knowledge, and all vice comes from 
ignorance and error. Sin is involuntary ; unright- 
eousness is a sickness of the soul, which 
Ethics. . 

comes upon it like sickness to the body. 
He who does evil, errs only in judgment; it is no 
act of the free will, but of the passionate nature. As 
guilt is only a want of spiritual power, so redemption 
is but coming to one's self. In his ideal state, he al- 
lowed community of wives, slavery, exposure of 
crippled children, and sexual vice. 

Aristotle was the scholar of Plato. His mind and 
disposition were the opposite of his master's. He was 
Aristotle, mathematical, critical, realistic, the phi- 
384-322 B.C. losopher of the understanding, and a sys- 
temizer. He was the founder of logic and dialectic. 
He denied Plato's teaching of ideas, the pre-existence 
of souls, and that no man is voluntarily evil. 

God is represented as the final cause, the universal 

object of desire and love, as pure intelligence without 

His Doc- power, active only in thought. He is not 

trines. God. Creator, as the world is eternal. He denied 

Divine providence. 

The soul is the substance which, only through the 
body, comes to manifestation. The soul can not 
think without the body. Yet the reason 
is immortal, while all else of the soul per- 
ishes with the body. The unity of the soul is de- 
nied. The highest wisdom of Aristotle is a sound 
and judicious morality. In the State he allows hate 
and revenge, the exposure and death of weakly chil- 
dren and abortion, and defends slavery, denying that 
the slaves have reasonable souls. 



Old Social Order in Rome. 323 

With all deductions, Plato's thought leads to the 
antechamber of the Divine presence, and has been 
the means of leading great and inquiring TheResuits 
spirits — such as Justin Martyr, Schleier- of Greek 
macher, and Neander— to Christ. It in- Thinkin &- 
fluenced both Origen and Augustine. Aristotle laid 
down laws of thought which all men must heed. His 
ideas of natural philosophy were dominant until the 
Reformation. His metaphysics ruled the schoolmen, 
and so the dogmatic theology of the Roman Catholic 
Church until this day, as, through John of Damascus, 
it does that of the Greek Church. 

The leading philosophic tendencies after these 
two great thinkers are Stoicism, Epicureanism, and 
Skepticism. 

The founder of Stoicism was Zeno of Citium, 
340-260. His system is a materialistic pantheism. 
Yet the world-reason is the author of the 

. -11 1. -1 . * Stoicism. 

moral law, and the rewarding and punish- 
ing judge. All is unalterably determined from 
eternity. 

Evil is necessary; without it there is no good. 
Every human soul is a part of the Godhead. All 
myths and idolatry are received and alle- 

., * T » i . Ethics. 

goncally explained. The wise man must 
subject all his emotions and passions to reason, and 
attain to perfect apathy and to self-control. Suicide, 
lying, and sexual vice were allowed. 

The Epicureans adopted the Atomic s ys- Ep j Cureanlsm> 
tern of philosoplry. They taught that the Epicurus, 
highest good is enjoyment and freedom 342=,27 °- 
from care. 

Pyrrho, the founder of philosophic skepticism, 



324 The New Society. 

taught the impossibility of attaining to philosophic 
Skepticism, knowledge. We are compelled by neces- 
Pyrrho, sity to be contented with the appearance 
325 B.C. Q £ things. Carneades, 215-130 B. C, com- 
bated every religious belief. 

Greek philosophy, showing the necessary direc- 
tion of human thought and the limits of its achieve- 
ments, was a preparation for the gospel of Christ. 
In all this speculation, the Romans, who were 
not original thinkers, were influenced mainly by the 
Roman Stoic School. They accepted the panthe- 
Phiiosophy. i s t:io idea of God, the materialistic con- 
ception of the universe, and the fatalistic view of 
man. The two greatest names among them were 
Seneca and Epictetus. 

Seneca taught : u The wise man lives with the 

gods on an equal footing; for he is teally himself 

God, or bears a part of the Godhead in him. 

Seneca. 

We are, at the same time, God's associates 
and his members." Yet we find how little this 
means and how completely man is left to himself 
when we read : " Prayer is useless. Why raise the 
hands to jieaven ? Wherefore trouble the gods when 
you can make yourself happy? It becomes you to 
become an equal associate with the gods, rather than 
to appear before them as one praying to them." 

The moral tendency of Stoicism appears to the 
best advantage in Epictetus. The beginning of phi- 
losophy to him is the knowledge of our 

Epictetus. , A . „ t A 4. 

own weakness and impotence. In order to 
become good, we must first see that we are bad. 
Philosophy must purify us from the darkness which 
imagines we need nothing, and from despair of our 



Old Social Order in Rome. 325 

own powers. He refers man to God. From God 
shall man seek what he lacks, moral help ; but the 
God to whom we must turn is the God in us. Our 
reason and will are the higher powers, in whose help 
we must confide, and whom we should follow. There 
is much in his teaching which is in accord with 
Christian morality ; but there is a selfish trend where 
apathy is the aim, and compassion, if shown, is never 
to be felt. This Stoical teaching accorded well with 
the Roman pride and insensibility to pain. It culti- 
vated a lofty self-respect, and often a keen sense oi 
honor. But there was in it no place for sympathy 
with men. Stoicism emphasized the dignity of men, 
and so favorably affected criminal legislation and the 
condition of slaves. 

The Roman youth, seeking a higher education, 
went from the rhetorical school to the lectures of the 
philosophers, usually from his eighteenth Philosophy 
to his twenty-fifth year. Physics, logic, and !n Education. 
ethics were taught; but the' aim was predominantly 
moral. The teacher not only taught, but applied his 
doctrine, and was the confidential friend and spiritual 
adviser of his pupils. These schools kept up the 
tradition of pure morality in Roman society. While 
the Cynics preached morality to the people, yet phi- 
losophy failed to work any regeneration, and to do 
more than to delay the progressive degeneration. 
Its power was insufficient, its ideals too poor, its cir- 
cles too narrow. It allied itself with the heathen re- 
ligion in Neo-Platonism ; but its final effort was its 
final failure. The wandering, begging, and cheating 
philosophers became a plague of the country where 
they were at all numerous. 



326 The New Society. 

Ammonius Saccas was the founder of Neo-Plato- 
nism. Plotinus was its most eminent teacher. He 

Neo=P!ato= taught that the universe of things consists 
tinus 205" °^ a supersensuous world, and our world, 

270 a. d. or the world of appearance. The super- 
sensuous world consists of the Original Being, the 
world of ideas (Plato's), and the soul. The Original 
Being is simply active power; all being is the pro- 
duction of this " One." In the " One" is all, so far 
as it has being, and hence is divine. The system is, 
therefore, dynamistic pantheism. The first production 
of the Original Being is reason, both the ideal world 
and the idea. From reason comes the soul, which is 
an immaterial substance. The soul produces the 
world of appearance. The world is not evil ; but the 
cause of evil is the intermixture with matter, which 
is the foundation of every individual being. Evil 
is, therefore, the intermixture of man with the sensu- 
ous. Redemption consists in freeing man from the 
sensuous by asceticism; this leads back to reason. 
This purifies the soul, and prepares for the imitation 
of God. The soul becomes not merely without sin, 
but becomes God, through the vision of God; that is, 
through ecstasy. 

The religions of the heathen were as diverse as 

their different races and nationalities. They had the 

common characteristics of polytheism and 

Religion. idolatry The Greek clothed his religion 

with his wonderful poetic and artistic genius. Egypt 
taught immortality, but degraded man to the worship 
of beasts. In Persia, the belief in immortality was 
blended with that of an eternal conflict between good 
and evil. The Shemitic and Babylonian star and 




o 

z 



o 



Old Social Order in Rome. 327 

nature worship was licentious and cruel. With their 
intensely practical character, the gods of the Romans 
were those of agriculture, the family, the State, and, 
above all, war. There was a most exact and scrupu- 
lous observance of ritualistic requirements under the 
most severe penalties in auguries, and auspices, and 
religious forms of the State ceremonial. Rome not 
only had the twenty great gods which Plato enumer- 
ates, but adopted those of the countries which she 
conquered, and crowned all with the deification of the 
members of the imperial house. This, of course, was 
the degradation of whatever lofty ideas were ever 
symbolized in the mythologies. For although there 
was recognized not the deification of the individual 
emperor, with all his weaknesses, vices, and crimes, 
so much as the power and permanence of the Roman 
State, yet this remained the highest ideal. 

The pettiness, selfishness, and yet intimate union 
of idolatry with the whole life of the individual and 
of the family may be seen by a glance at IdoIatry and 
its relation to the life of the ordinary the Course of 
Roman citizen. Juno was the protectress "h™^,^ 
of the Roman women. On their birthday of the 
they sacrificed to Juno Natalis. The feast Women - 
of the Matronalia they celebrated with sacrifices in 
the temple of Juno L,ucina, in remembrance of the 
founding of marriage by Romulus at the seizing of 
the daughters of the Sabines. As Fluvonia, she was 
associated with Mena in the purification of women. 
In regard to marriage and its rites, she was honored 
by the bride as Juga, Curitis, Domiduca, Unixia, 
Pronuba, Einixia. As Ossipaga, Ophigena, and Lu- 
cina, she watched over the unborn child and its birth. 



328 The New Society. 

As Conciliatrix and as Viriplaca, she appeased the 
husband; and as Sororia, preserved peace among 
sisters. 

The goddesses invoked at birth, besides Juno, 
were Mane-Geneta, Carmenta, and Egeria. The god 
The Child- called upon at the first cry of the new-born 
wtopro! child was Vaticanus. The child was laid 
tected it. upon the ground. If the father took it up 
in his arms, all was well ; but if not, it was killed or 
exposed : hence there was a goddess of uplifting, or 
Levana. The divinities who protected the child in 
his infancy were Cunina, Statilinus, Edusa, Potina, 
Paventia, Fabulinus, and Catius. Juventas, the god- 
dess of youth, had a temple ; Orbana, the goddess of 
orphans, her sanctuary. The fever goddess had two 
temples. With special rites were honored Pietas, Pax, 
Bonus Eventus, Spes, Quies, Pudicitia, Honor, and 
Virtus, who all had temples or chapels. Especially 
honored was Concordia. 

The religious service and idolatry which encom- 
passed the life of the mother and her son from the be- 
TheAfterUfe ginning of his existence, entered into all 
and its Di- his after life. Terminus presided over the 
vinities. boundaries of his estate ; Silvanus of his 
forests ; Dea Dia, over the fruits of the field ; Pales, 
over the flocks ; Flora, over the flowers, — and had a 
festival of unbridled license. Vertumnus presided over 
the fields and gardens, and his wife Pomona, the 
fruits; and the great goddess Ceres watched the grain. 
If he began family life, Vesta guarded the hearth. 
The L,ares and Penates of the house had their altar 
and offerings. 

The fifteenth day after his birth, the Fates, or Fata 



Old Social Order in Rome. 329 

Scribenda, were called upon, and through life he never 
ceased to worship Fortune. Every State employment 
was mixed up with idolatry. The soldier wor- 
shiped the eagle borne on the standard of his cohort 
or legion. All civil and judicial oaths were tainted 
w T ith the pervading idolatry, and every citizen must 
sacrifice, if called upon, to the genius of the emperor. 
From this recital the inevitable antagonism and in- 
cessant conflict in which the Christian engaged against 
idolatry, and which entered into and broke up the re- 
lations of business, society — all public and family 
life. The Christians could not live in the old, they 
were compelled to found a new world. 

The utter failure of art, literature, philosophy, and 
religion to reform Roman society or pre- The Amuse . 
serve heathen civilization, unmistakably ments. 
confronts us when we consider the amusements of 
the people. 

The theater was the oldest of these. The three 
theaters in the time of the empire would accommo- 
date from 50,000 to 75,000 people — a much The 
larger number, in proportion to the popu- Theaters. 
lation, than could find room in the theaters of any 
capital in Europe. The old stage presented a rustic 
comedy, with coarse and obscene allusions. At the 
time of the introduction of Christianity the represen- 
tations were usually mythological scenes. Those spe- 
cially preferred were the love adventures of Jupiter, 
Venus and Adonis, Apollo and Daphne, Phaedra and 
Hippolytus, etc. Ovid said he thought his poems 
" should not be charged with immorality, when the 
emperor and senators, the matrons and maidens, yes, 
even children, saw the mimes. The wife deceive? 



330 The New Society. 

her husband, and not only the ears hear unchaste 
speeches, but the eye is accustomed on the stage to 
revolting shame." 

The heathen Zosimus, writing in the fifth cen- 
tury, said: i4 The introduction of pantomimes under 
Augustus was a symptom of the universal moral ruin 
of the world which began with the beginning of the 
monarchy." 

The corrupt moral influence of the theaters, which 

could accommodate at one time one-twentieth of the 

free population could never be inconsider- 

The Circus. - - , . . .„ n 

able ; but was insignificant when compared 
with that of the circus and amphitheater. The great 
circus under Julius Caesar had 150,000 sittings ; under 
Titus, 250,000 ; and under Trajan, to the end of the 
empire, 385.000. It was the boast of Rome that all 
her citizens could find accommodation in her circus. 
Being free, it was crowded. In the morning before 
daybreak people came streaming in to find places. 
It was thronged from the time of Julius Caesar to the 
end of this period. Of course, in such a vast space, 
little attention could be paid to individual horses and 
charioteers. Hence they were distinguished by their 
colors, which could be seen across the immense crowd, 
and through the dust. The races were run by horses 
hitched two or four abreast. Nero drove ten abreast 
at Olympia. They were driven fourteen times the 
length of the arena, or seven times around the course, 
a distance of about five miles. All the violence of the 
most intense political partisanship, the excitement of 
the horse-race, and the risk and anxiety of the most 
eager gambling, raged in the circus. The people 
staid all day. After Nero's time, from twenty to 



Old Social Order in Rome, 331 

twenty-four races were run each day. The crowds 
and excitement of the circus endured through Chris- 
tian times. A riot at the circus at Constantinople 
nearly cost Justinian his throne, and occasioned the 
loss of thirty-two thousand lives. 

The corruption of the theater, the excitement of 
the circus, culminated in the games of the The Games 
amphitheater. These comprised the gladi- phitheater. 
atorial games and the contests with wild beasts. 

The first mention of gladiatorial games is in 264 
B. C . when three pairs fought at the funeral of Brutus 
Perus. In 65 B, C, Julius Caesar sought combats of 
to give games which should surpass any- Q,adiators - 
thing seen in Rome ; but the resolution of the Senate 
limited him to the use of 320 pairs of gladiators. Au- 
gustus ordered that the praetor should give these 
games twice a year, with not more than 120 men. 
When private persons gave games the usual number 
was one hundred pairs. During the reign of Au- 
gustus ten thousand men fought in his games. In 
the games of one year at the Dacian triumph of Tra- 
jan, 106, the same number fought. In the course of 
four years, about 240, five thousand men fought in 
these games. 

Gladiators were sometimes sentenced criminals; 
sometimes prisoners of war, or slaves, and even vol- 
untary recruits. They were trained in the sources of 
gladiatorial schools. Caligula established supply and 

1 a -i-k tv ■ • -r -i 1 Training of 

the nrst one m Rome. Domitian founded Gladiators. 
four. There were always from twelve hundred to two 
thousand gladiators in Rome. There were also schools 
at Capua, Praeneste, Ravenna, and Alexandria — places 
chosen for the healthfulness of their location. The 



332 The New Society. 

discipline of these schools was of cruel severity. The 
men were kept in little cells, without windows on 
three sides, and opening on a pillared hall. The pun- 
ishments were scourgings, brandings, and heavy 
chains. At Pompeii the remains of sixty of these 

[men have been found in their cells, many of them 
heavily fettered. They not seldom committed sui- 

'cide. Symmachus, in the last of the fourth century, 
tells of twenty nine Saxon captives who were to have 
taken part in the games in honor of his son's acces- 
sion to the praetor ship, who strangled each other with 
their bare hands. 

Not satisfied with such scenes, the Roman tiger 

Battles thirst for blood showed itself in Julius 

in the Am- Caesar at his triumphal games — causing to 

phitheater. fight ^ ^ ^^ fiye hundred foot ^ three 

hundred horse, and twenty elephants. 

For this purpose excavations were made, and arti- 
ficial lakes formed. In these sea-fights under Julius 

Naval Caesar, 46 B. C, fought one thousand men 

Battles, and j- wo thousand rowers ; under Augustus 
three thousand soldiers, and under Claudius nineteen 
thousand. Nero, Titus, and Domitian favored the 
populace with these rare sights, as did Philip the Ara- 
bian, in 248, at the secular games. 

Games in which wild animals fought were intro- 
duced in 186 B. C. In Pompey's games were used 
Combats seventeen elephants, five hundred lions, 

with and four hundred other animals. Julius 
wild Beasts. q^ S2lv use( j f our hundred lions and forty 

elephants; Augustus, three thousand five hundred 
animals. These numbers are small compared with 
five thousand wild and nine thousand tame animals 



Old Social Order in Rome. 333 

used by Titus, 80, in the hundred days' festival ; or 
the eleven thousand slain in 106, at the Dacian 
games of Trajan. The aristocracy also gave private 
games in which they were used. The games of the 
Emperor Philip (248) rivaled any before seen. 
Rhinoceroses were pitted against elephants, bears 
and elephants against buffaloes, while lions, tigers, 
leopards, hyenas, wild horses, wild asses, giraffes, 
and even hippopotamuses and crocodiles, were found, 
and fought for their lives in the arena. Criminals 
were sentenced, and Christians were condemned 
to martyrdom by being thrown to the wild beasts; 
while, with a refinement of cruelty difficult to 
imagine, these executions took place in the course 
of the representation of plays upon the stage, — the 
death of Jason and of Hercules; the robber Laureolus 
crucified; Daedalus torn to pieces by the lions, or 
Orpheus by the bears. 

These games, and the amphiteaters for them, were 
found from Jerusalem to Seville, and from England 
to North Africa. There was no important Extent of the 
city in which there were not numerous G^dfatoriai 01 
bloody offerings. There was hardly a Games. 
small town in Italy where annual combats, at least 
of wild beasts, were not held two or three or four 
days in the year. In small or poor places three 
or four pairs of gladiators fought; in larger ones, 
twenty, thirty, or even fifty pairs. According to the 
expenditure of human life was estimated their splen- 
dor. They were most numerous in Italy, Gaul, North 
Africa, and Spain. There were never so many in 
Greece and the Asiatic lands. The only Roman of 
eminence who pronounced against them was Seneca. 



334 The New Society. 

In Rome, of course, the games were given with 
the greatest expenditure of blood and treasure. The 
Time given seven yearly games under Augustus lasted 
to Games sixty-six days ; Tiberius raised the number 
m Rome. tQ e ighty- S even ; Marcus Aurelius to one 
hundred and thirty-five, where it remained. Besides 
these, were the extraordinary games which sometimes 
filled out one or two hundred days. These games in- 
cluded the theater, circus, and amphitheater. 

The imperial games cost annually one hundred 
thousand dollars under Augustus. Three days' games 
The Expense * n a c ^ * n Central Italy cost twenty-two 

of the thousand dollars. Yet Augustus gave 
Games. Herod five hundred thousand* dollars for 
games at Jerusalem ; and two thousand five hundred 
Jewish captives fought in the amphitheater at 
Csesarea, 70, after the fall of Jerusalem. Aurelian's 
games upon entering office as consul, about 265, 
cost two hundred and seventy-five thousand dol- 
lars. The games of Symmachus's son as praetor, about 
375 } cost four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 
These sums should be increased sixfold to tenfold to 
represent the money of our day. 

The most significant monument of Roman impe- 
rial times is the Coliseum, built by the Emperor 

The Vespasian 70-80. It rested on eighty 
Coliseum, mighty arches, and rose one hundred and 
fifty feet into the air. It was elliptical in shape, 
about 625 feet long by 505 feet broad, while the 
arena was 280 feet long by nearly 180 feet in breadth; 
it had sittings for 87,000 spectators. The splendor of 
the display, as representing the world-wide dominion 
and unceasing permanence of Rome, doubtless at- 



Old Social Order in Rome. 335 

traded many of the spectators. The Venerable Bede 
tells us of a saying, common in his time, about 750: 
"So long as the Coliseum stands, Rome will stand; 
when the Coliseum falls, Rome will fall ; when Rome 
falls, will fall the world." 

The last day before the games began, the gladiators 
were called together and given a free meal in public, 
furnished with costly meats and drinks. TheGames 
Many spent the day in riotous excess, oth- in the 
ers in taking leave of their wives and 0,,seum - 
friends, and the Christians of their fellow-believers. 
The next day the seats are filled. The emperor and 
his family occupy the imperial box. The senators, 
the knights, and wealthy members of society fill the 
marble benches. Women, as well as men, are there to 
feast their eyes on scenes of blood. Indeed, at their 
head are the Vestal Virgins. From senators to women 
of fashion, all are in their gayest attire and most 
sumptuous array. The ornaments of wealth, the in- 
signia of office, the beauty and power of Rome, are 
there. Suddenly the trumpets of the heralds sound. 
The gladiators, in the costumes of the different na- 
tionalities they represent, and armed with the arms 
they are about to use, pass in long procession around 
the arena. When they reach the imperial box, they 
hail the emperor with, " Imperator, we who are about 
to die, salute thee." No Christian pen would will- 
ingly trace the scenes of these bloody conflicts. If a 
wounded gladiator implores for life, the emperor by 
turning up his thumbs grants it, but more often, by 
turning them down, gives the signal for the finishing 
stroke. The multitude manifests the greatest dis- 
pleasure when a gladiator seems unwilling to die. 



336 The New Society. 

When the combat ceases, attendants, attired to repre- 
sent the gods of the lower regions, come out with 
gleaming hot irons to test the fallen and see if they 
are dead. The bodies are borne to the dead-chamber, 
and any lingering wretch with the stroke of the 
sword is released from his pain. 

There were six hundred years of these brutal, 
cruel, public murders. It was high time for Alaric, 
Genseric, Totila, and Belisarius to sweep the race 
Abolition fr° m the ground, polluted with drinking 
of these such streams of human blood ; for, though 
Games. Constantine decreed the abolition of these 
games, October i, 326, and Valentinian forbade the 
condemnation of a Christian to a school of the glad- 
iators in 365, and they had ceased in the East, they 
continued in Rome. In 404, the monk Telemachus, 
plunging between the combatants to separate them 
in the last gladiatorial games given in Rome, was 
torn in pieces by the raging multitude, whose pleasure 
he had spoiled. 

If we consider the extent of these bloody specta- 
cles of the amphitheater, every province of the empire 
Extent and having a procurator of games, who was 
influence of also interested in keeping up the supply 
the Games. for the capital . if we cons ider the cost, the 

revenues of provinces being lavished in a few days; 
if we take into account that the theaters, the circus, 
and the amphitheater could accommodate at one time 
more than one-third of the whole population, men and 
women, of the city ; that the ordinary free plays and 
games occupied from three to four months in the 
year, while there were added from one to two months 



Old Social Order in Rome, 337 

more by the extraordinary games, besides ail the pri- 
vate spectacles, — we can estimate their immense influ- 
ence and the irremediable demoralization caused by 
them. We can see why the Roman citizen, who must 
attend the theater, the circus, and the games of the 
amphitheater from dawn to setting sun each second or 
third day, could not support himself, and why, out of 
320 000 Roman citizens, 200,000 were fed by the State. 
This free distribution of grain was practiced, to the 
ruin of agriculture and draining the resources of the 
State, not only at Rome, but at Alexandria, at An- 
tioch, and in other cities of the empire. There is a 
necessary connection between bad morals and bad 
economics. 

The reader may think this picture of Roman so- 
ciety and morals overdrawn. The contrary is the 
case. No missionary would dare to print corruption 
or speak of the familiar sights of every-day of R° man 
life in a heathen land. Nor could the his- witness of 
torian of Rome desire or dare to record the Pompeii. 
daily scenes of the most splendid and refined so- 
ciety of the capital of the world. What the hea- 
thenism was to which the gospel came, and which 
the gospel conquered, buried and restored Pompeii 
tells us with evidence impossible to question. The 
historian, sober and never partial to the Christians, 
Hermann Schiller, says: " Pompeii shows frightful 
immorality." 

Christianity has its dark spots, its crowded slums, 
in its great capitals and in the centers of population ; 
but the cruel slavery, the unbridled and unconcealed 
profligacy, the basest forms of immorality, are as for- 



338 The New Society. 

eign to Christian civilization and as unknown to the 
citizens of a Christian land as the games of the Ro- 
man amphitheater. The world has moved, and moved 
along the plane of Christian morals. Along this plane 
the path of future progress lies. 



Chapter II. 

CHRISTIAN LIFE AND SOCIETY. 

The new world began with the individual. The 
Christian was a new man. Regeneration, however 
difficult to explain as a process, is a fact The Effect 
of experience. Growth in the physical ol 

« , . r , « i . Christianity 

world is one of the most complex and m- upon the 
explicable of processes, but none the less individual, 
one of the most evident and controlling of facts. 
Such an experience alone could give the purity and 
equality of the first Christian ages. This regenera- 
tion wrought that entire ethical reform which has 
always made the religion of Christ the most powerful 
agent in the moral elevation of the individual, and 
enabled it to reach and save the slave, the outcast, 
and the criminal. According to the letters of St. Paul, 
these, turned from their evil ways, became members 
of the Christian Church. This work continued; for 
Celsus, more than a hundred years later, makes it a 
reproach against the Christians that they receive such 
into their fellowship. Since the preaching of the 
Cross to the dying thief, the Christian faith has saved 
those who were lost. Its cure is radical and complete. 
Not only were men turned from their old life, — they 
were turned to a new one. The old desires and affec- 
tions were driven out by the expulsive power of a 
new and all-controlling affection for the loftiest ideal, 
and the noblest and most winning personality which 
ever appealed to the human heart. The believer was 

339 



340 The New Society. 

not all the time striving, by mortifications and weary, 
fruitless endeavors, to arrive at moral purity ; he re- 
ceived inward cleansing through God's unspeakable 
gift. He wrought not for life, but from life. The 
contents of his Christian experience were positive 
rather than negative. Self-restraint came as the re- 
sult of the inward, more abundant life, not as the sole 
and direct result of moral endeavor. What philosophy 
and merely ethical teaching in every age has failed to 
do, that the Christian religion wrought, according to 
the testimony of heathen observers like Galen, 
130-200: " We know that the people called Christians 
have founded a religion in parables and niracles. In 
moral training we see them in no wise inferior to the 
philosophers. They practice celibacy, as do many of 
their women ; in diet they are abstemious, in fastings 
and prayers assiduous; they injure no one. In the 
practice of virtue they surpass philosophers ; in prob- 
ity, in continence, in the genuine performance of 
miracles, they infinitely excel them." 

Let us remember that this work was accomplished 
in the midst of all that habit, association, universal 
influence an( * all-powerful custom could do to draw 
of old Christians back into the old heathen life. 
Associations. Qf the strength of those influences sur- 
rounding them we can have no conception. An apt 
illustration of them is given by Augustine in his 
"Confessions." "Alypius, a Christian, was compelled 
by his friend to go to the amphitheater. Shutting 
his eyes, he kept his soul unpolluted > until, through 
some chance in the fight, there arose a terrible out- 
cry. Almost involuntarily he opened his eyes. With 
the sight of the flowing blood, he drank in the inhu 



Christian Life and Society. 341 

manity of the place. He was intoxicated with the 
bloody pleasure. He saw, he cried, he was inflamed. 
He took the mania away with him and it stung him 
to return.' ' 

It was not that the new life died away with the 
obligation of watchfulness, self-examination, and the 
realization of a nobler ideal ; these were insisted upon, 
but they were not all — they did not stand alone — they 
were related to and a part of that divine salvation 
by which lost men and a corrupt society could be 
redeemed. Its power was inexhaustible, its redemp- 
tion plenteous. 

According to the Christian conception, the regen- 
eration of the individual was not an end in itself. 
When a man was born of God, helwas born s oc iai 
into a new society, the kingdom of God, Reform. 
represented on earth by the Church of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Hence the salvation of the individual and of 
society were correlative factors; the one involved the 
other. The principle which was to regenerate so- 
ciety, and of the new social order brought in by the 
acceptance of the reign of Christ, was Christian love ; 
love that sacrifices, love that forgets self, love that 
dies, love that brings purity and peace. This love is 
divine; it is received by men; it allies them to God; 
it binds them to each other; it is the attractive, crys- 
tallizing power of the new society in the new world. 
The purifying influence of this love is felt first in 
the home. Here the new life came; for wherever 
Christ was preached, " women were invited The 
and welcomed into the Christian commu- Christian 
nities, and were admitted equally with men om 

to all Christian privileges. Hence, in a Christian 



342 The New Society. 

family the wife and mother held an honorable place." 
Chastity, in contrast with heathen licentiousness, in- 
vesting marriage with a religious sanctity, and allow- 
ing divorce only for the cause named by Christ, hal- 
lowed and strengthened the life of the home. The 
blessing of the Son of Mary came upon the womam 
hood of the race 

As " saints," " brethren," and •■■ sisters," the earliest 

names for Christians, they formed a holy brotherhood, 

united and pure. This aspiration after 

Marriage. . . . . 

purity was seen in the Christian view of 
marriage. Three things were regarded as essential — 
one husband with one wife, or monogamy ; divorce 
only for adultery ; no alliance of the sexes tolerated 
except in marriage, •hence concubinage done away 
among them. Marriage was allowed, widowhood 
honored, but virginity was by many preferred. Sec- 
ond marriage was discountenanced. Everywhere the 
thought was, purity at any price. Knowing the con- 
dition of human society, we can see why they should 
go to the other extreme. Yet Paul's comparison of 
the relation of Christ to his Church to marriage, hon- 
ors in the highest degree this relation on which de- 
pends the family life. 

The difficulties of the situation are proved by the 
severe and long-continued struggle against concubi- 
nage, a relation in which the woman renounced the 
name of wife, and the rank and dignity of her hus- 
band ; and the children did not take the full legal po- 
sition of children born in legitimate marriage, and 
yet which had a certain lawful relation as a kind of 
legalized polygamy. The practice became wide- 
spread. The laws against it of Constantinej and later 



Christian Life and Society. 343 

those of Justinian, hardly checked it, and it was 
wholly done away by law only in the ninth century. 
Pope Calixtus was blamed for having favored such 
marriages, and three Councils — 400, 402, and 538 — 
mention them without placing their right in question. 
Christianity made chastity as obligatory upon man as 
upon woman, yet only under Theodosius II was first 
recognized the right of the wife to divorce in case of 
her husband's adultery. The position of women in 
the Church brought purity and equality into the 
home. The Pauline precept enthroned love there as 
Christ had taught the indissoluble union of husband 
and wife. The Church gave the right and the ideal, 
the realization came slowly in the State. Before that 
ideal sexual immorality hid itself, and unnatural vice 
perished from civilized society. 

In the Christian home the children shared in the 
blessings which came upon the parents. No richer 
blessing could come to any child than to 

, - & , . r . ., , Children. 

be born to a heritage of purity and love. 
The heathen practices of abortion, or the exposure of 
the children to die, or to be brought up as the mean- 
est of slaves, could never enter the Christian family. 
" Under the old Roman law, parents might at any 
time put their children to death, or sell them as 
slaves ; but this severity was at once voluntarily soft- 
ened in Christian families, and the power was taken 
away by Christian emperors.' ' The blessing of the 
Babe of Bethlehem came upon the childhood of the 
world, The old household gods, with their familiar 
rites, were displaced, but the Christian home had its 
religious life. 

From the beginning, " grace" was said at meals— 



344 The New Society, 

hardly any other Christian observance is older, or of 
Religious more universal usage. The practice of 
Life in making the sign of the cross on the fore- 
theHome. hea( ^ by the beginning of the third cen- 
tury, came to be a perpetually-repeated sign in fam- 
ilies. Children were early taught the Lord's Prayer 
and the Apostles' Creed and to pray at midnight, 
sunrise, and at every meal, They were taught from 
the Scriptures, beginning with the Psalms. Christian 
songs and hymns were an abundant source of recrea- 
tion at meal-times, and in all family and friendly re- 
unions. 

No attempt was made in the first century to do 

away with slavery; that would have been impossible 

without a political and social revolution. 

Slaves* 

A slave could live a Christian life. Chris- 
tians generally considered slavery as belonging to this 
world, and therefore not as immoral, but yet as not 
corresponding to the highest will of God. The 
Church cared for the spiritual welfare of slaves, and 
taught that their masters were to improve their con- 
dition, and were responsible for their souls. Their 
position was greatly improved by the Church; slaves 
even became bishops. Christian feeling toward slav- 
ery is well expressed by Gregory the Great : <4 As our 
Redeemer, the Author of the whole Creation, took 
upon him human nature for the purpose of releasing 
us by his grace from the chains of bondage, in which 
we were held, so is a salutary action performed when 
men, whom nature from the beginning made .free, and 
whom the rights of nations have subjected to the 
yoke of slavery, are restored to the freedom in which 
they are born." 



Christian Life and Society. 345 

The increasing poverty and economic distress ren- 
dered slavery unprofitable at the close of this period. 
The invasions of the barbarians broke up the slave- 
markets allowed the escape of multitudes of bond- 
men, and seriously affected the institution. The in- 
fluence of monasticism, in despising property and 
luxury, tended in thersame direction; but the one chief 
cause leading to the cessation of slavery in Europe 
was the teaching of the Christian gospel, and the in- 
fluence of the Christian Church. We may say, in the 
words of Mommsen : " Christianity had, in the begin- 
ning, considered servitude as a provisional condition, 
and its task as its abolition. Its influence was such 
that not only Christian owners freed their slaves in 
greater numbers, but also the freedom of slaves was 
purchased out of the means of the Church; and, 
finally, the law did away with gladiatorial games, es- 
tablished a kind of manumission before the Church in 
the community, and fully did away with the differ- 
ence between the free and the freedman." 

Such were some of the effects of the application of 
the principles of Christian love in the family life. Its 
results were not less far-reaching in the wider circles 
of business and society. 

The acceptance of the gospel rendered inevitable 
antagonism to the prevalent practices of public and 
social life. It required the reception and Christian 
manifestation in life of the Spirit of Christ, and Heathen 
so utterly alien to the dominant philos- Societ y- 
ophy, customs, and usages, and even laws of the 
State. The one close-clinging sin, intermixed with 
all the forms of social, public, and even domestic life, 
Was idolatry. With this the Christian convert could 



346 The New Society. 

make no compromise. The result was separation, 
which often involved the disruption of families ; the 
breaking up of all business or trade interests upon 
which depended a livelihood; the incurring of the 
enmity of old-time friends, associates, and often rela- 
tives, which not infrequently led to a martyr's death. 
This separation involved a constant restraint, lest old 
habits, passions, associations, finding occasion in the 
multiplied points of conflict between the new faith 
and the old accustomed life, should bring the believer 
into sin and disgrace. Such Christian watchfulness, 
circumspect walking, and careful self-restraint were 
essential to the Christian in the midst of the domi- 
nant heathenism of the first three centuries. Hence, 
the Christian received a new spirit, lived a new life, 
developed a new society, with institutions and offices 
fitted for its needs, which should one day, in the 
providence of God, take the place of a decaying and 
fallen state, and raise the fabric of a purer and nobler 
civilization. 

Many trades and occupations were closed to the 
Christians. Such were all which had to do with the 
Trades and manufacture or ornamentation of idols, or 
Professions, portrayal of idolatrous scenes, and so, in 
large part, all decorative art, all trade in objects of 
idolatrous worship. Actors, and all connected with 
the stage, were compelled to cease their connection 
with it on professing faith in Christ. Montanists 
held that Christians should not even teach in the 
schools, so permeated was the literature with idol- 
atry; only the simplest trades and callings were with- 
out its degrading taint. We must remember these 
were the most serious and practical questions of the 



Christian Life and Society, 347 

daily life of Christians for two hundred and fifty 
years. 

Take the case of a soldier who is converted to the 
Christian faith, — must he therefore desert his colors, 
and, if unpunished, remain under the 

. r 1 7- , , • * Public Life 

stigma of disloyalty ; or stay with them, 
and either take part in the idolatry of the soldiers or 
die a martyr's death? So Christians were dissuaded 
from taking public office. The Council of Elvira, 303, 
ordered that Christian magistrates should not attend 
church in the year that they served as duumviri, and 
pronounced upon life and death. 

What, then, in the life of the Christian took the 
place of the civic and military duties from which they 
were excluded; the social life, which cen- christian 
tered in idolatrous feasts, or lascivious plays, Fellowship, 
or cruel games of the amphitheater; the overthrow 
of business interests, and the intimacies of friendship 
and domestic life turned to hatred? The one and 
sufficient answer is, the purity and fellowship of the 
early Christian society. Profession of faith in Christ 
made essential personal communion with God and 
purity of life. Of these things their heathen enemies 
testified. But the charm which drew men from the 
world, and held them safe amid manifold trials and 
temptations, was the love of God manifested in the 
fellowship of the Christian society. Great as have 
been the victories of the fellowship of the Christian 
faith in all the ages since, it may be doubted if it was 
ever purer or more fervent and attractive than in the 
Church of persecution and martyrdom. By them was 
accepted, realized, and they rejoiced in the test, "We 
know that we have passed from death unto life, be- 



348 The New Society. 

cause we love the brethren." Tertullian tells us that 
the heathen said, " See how these Christians love one 
another.' ' This was promoted by the common meal, 
or love-feast, partaken for the first two centuries in 
connection with the Sunday worship, and the sacra- 
ment of the L,ord's Supper. Afterward as an even- 
ing meal, it continued until the fourth century. At 
both love-feast and sacrament all distinctions of rank 
faded away. The Christian master and the Christian 
slave sat side by side. The inequalities of fortune 
were forgotten, and all were brethren and sisters in 
the Iyord, greeting each other with the holy kiss. 
The world, into which they were born, and which 
they had known, with many individuals of high char- 
acter, and many domestic, civil, and martial virtues, 
was yet a world without love — the very picture of a 
materialized society ; the world into which he entered 
through the Christian faith as by a second birth, was 
a world loving God, receiving and manifesting his 
love in a fellowship as wonderfully attractive as it 
was unique. It was not so hard to die in a company 
so lowly and so noble, so pure in faith, so ardent in 
affection, and so triumphant in hope. 

The source of all that made glad the heart of the 
Christian was his communion with God. The teach - 
Communion * n g of the unity of God wrought an intel- 
with God. lectual and moral revolution to one brought 
up in idolatry. How could there be communion with 
the multifarious gods of heathenism ? But the Father 
Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, came near to 
men. He was our Father, the Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. In him was the basis of this fellow- 
ship. The marked characteristic of the life of indi- 



Christian Life and Society. 349 

vidual Christians — from all we know from the docu- 
ments, the narratives and memorials upon the tombs 
of the early Christians which have come down to us — 
is joyfulness ; not simply cheerfulness, but joyfulness. 
These despised Christians had their ministration of 
the Holy Spirit that made them able always to re- 
joice. They, and they only, were victorious in this 
dying world. 

This purity, fellowship, and rejoicing was minis- 
tered to by the instruction, the worship, and discipline 
of the Church. The instruction of the 
Church was most definite and precise in 
the preparation for baptism. a The catechumens 
were instructed in the great articles of the Creed 
(Apostles'), the nature of the sacraments, and peni- 
tential discipline of the Church. Special examina- 
tions and inquiries into character were made at inter- 
vals during the forty days. It was a time of fasting 
watching, and prayer." This instruction was con- 
tinuously followed by the reading of the Scriptures 
and committing passages to memory in private or in 
the home when possible, or in the worship of the 
Church ; and also by that great means of expounding 
Christian doctrine and enforcing Christian practice, 
the preaching of the Word. All the great doctors 
of the Church were preachers; and, in the early 
years, laymen, as well as men ordained, could preach. 

The worship of the Church was at first mainly 
during the first half of this period eminently social in 
character. Its psalms, hymns, and spirit- 
ual songs, its unpremeditated prayer and ° rs * P " 
its accustomed forms for common supplication both 
in use, made the worship one of thanksgiving rather 



35o The New Society. 

than one of expiation, and gave a sense of freedom 
and fellowship which were unknown in the Church 
when the love-feast and offering of fruits and grain 
in the service of the Eucharist gave way to the re- 
straint of a fixed and stately, and often tedious, cere- 
monial. The lessons of the worship of the L,ord's- 
day were deepened when the solemnities of Lent, the 
rejoicings of Easter and Pentecost, were filled out in 
the round of the Christian year. If there was less of 
freedom, there was more of order and an unceasing 
inculcation of Christian truth of value to the ruder 
nations of the North. 

The discipline of fasting two days in the week 

was to inculcate self-restraint. The discipline of the 

Church was invaluable in making supreme 

Discipline. "' ". . . t r 

moral obligations without respect of per- 
sons, and in deepening the sense of sin, while hold- 
ing out the hope oi pardon. It had its characteristic 
faults, and it failed in the end, but only when the mo- 
nastic life had absorbed nearly all the more earnest 
Christians under a still more rigorous rule. This dis- 
cipline, first Christian and then monastic, testified 
to the universal supremacy of moral obligation during 
the ages of national decay, and when the darkness of 
intellectual night settled down over Christendom. 
The reality of this Christian fellowship was shown 

in the protection the Church afforded to the 

Christianity * 

in Business weak or the unfortunate from the fraud and 

Relations, violence which had long known no restraint 

coioni, or except that of force. The Church be- 

Hereditary lieved in justice in business relations. The 

Tenants. . 

soil, m many places, was tilled by tenants 
whose interest passed from father to son, and who 



Christian Life and Society. 351 

were called coloni, but who were practically serfs. 
With these tillers of the land every sort of fraud was 
used to get as much out of them as possible, as they 
were too poor to obtain the protection of the law. 
Extracts gathered by Uhlhorn show clearly their con- 
dition and the work of the Church. 

"How they ill use the poor farmers !" exclaims 
Chrysostom. " Do they treat them more humanely 
than the barbarians do ? They do not hesitate to im- 
pose insupportable burdens, daily heavier, upon those 
who are perishing with hunger, who are toiling away 
their lives. Whether the land yields anything or 
nothing, they always demand the same." In them, 
too, the Church took an interest. Theodoret, in a 
letter (Ep. 23), entreats a land-owner for some in- 
dulgence toward the coloni of his flock : " Have pity 
on the laborers who have labored in the fields and 
have gained but little. I^et the scanty harvest be an 
occasion to thee of a plentiful spiritual harvest." 
Augustine seriously appeals to the conscience of one 
Romulus, concerning his oppression of coloni, on whom 
double supplies were about to be imposed, and threat- 
ens him with eternal judgment: "They toil for a 
short time ; but do thou look to it that thou heap not 
up treasure against the day of wrath and revelation of 
the righteous judgment of God." Gregory the Great's 
letters (Epist. i, 51, I, 56) show how careful he was 
about the welfare of the common people, and contain 
a number of directions to his defensores (agents) for 
the alleviation of their condition. He writes to his 
Subdeacon Anthemius: "Not only by frequent in- 
junctions, but also personally, have I, as I remember, 
exhorted thee to have less in view, in thy deportment 



352 The New Society. 

as our vicar, the temporal profit of the Church, than the 
alleviation of the miseries of the poor, and, on the 
contrary, to protect them against whatever oppression 
may be inflicted on them." To the Subdeacon Peter, 
too, who administered the Church property in Sicily, 
he gives this excellent advice : "I desire that the 
noble and respectable may honor thee for thy hu- 
mility, and not loathe thee for thy pride. But if thou 
shouldest see them commit an injustice against the 
poor, then quickly raise thyself up from thy humility, 
so that thou mayest be submissive to them as long as 
they act justly, but their opponent as soon as. they 
do evil." Gregory, having learned that many farm- 
ers, constrained to pay their taxes before selling their 
harvests, were having recourse to loans, and thus fall- 
ing into the hands of usurers, commissions Peter, the 
subdeacon, to make them an advance out of the 
Church resources, which they may repay by install- 
ments. Thus the Deacon Cyprian receives a like 
commission. He is to make advances to the farmers, 
that they may not get money elsewhere, since they 
will then have either to pay interest or have their 
produce undervalued. " For these neither will the 
Church treasury be ruined nor the prosperity of the 
farmers destroyed." 

"The Church opposed whatever violence was ex- 
ercised by the rich and noble against the poor and 
Resistance humble, and, as Ambrose says, protected 
t0 Jf ! tne nCe the Naboths against the Ahabs, of whom 
Powerful, a new one rose up every day." One of the 
circumstances by which Chrysostom drew down upon 
himself the wrath of the Empress Eudoxia was this : 
The empress, relying upon a certain law, desired 



Christian Life and Society. 353 

to possess herself of the vineyard of a poor widow 
for a payment in money. Chrysostom protected the 
widow in her possessions, uninfluenced by the 
wealth of the empress. The property of widows and 
orphans was frequently intrusted to the Church for 
preservation and management. Augustine once men- 
tions this, and adds; "The bishops protect the orphans 
that they may not be oppressed by strangers after the 
death of their parents." In Pavia, a respectable man 
had surreptitiously obtained an imperial rescript, by 
which the property of an orphan, held as a deposit by 
the Church, was adjudged to him. Nevertheless, 
Ambrose refused to deliver it up, withstood all the 
threats and annoyances of the corrupted officials, and 
at last effected a withdrawal of the rescript. Many of 
Augustine's letters treat of the proposed marriage of 
an orphan girl who had been intrusted to the Church, 
and the care of whom the bishop, notwithstanding 
his numerous cares and labors, did not neglect. He 
writes to Felix: "For your piety knows what care 
the Church and the bishops should take for the pro- 
tection of all men, but especially of orphan children. " 
The charity of the early Church was as marked 
as the fellowship from which it sprang, and the joy- 
ous spirit with which it was administered, christian 
Paul insists on the necessity of labor, not charity. 

1 r «/- 1 *■#*!•• Necessity 

only for self-support , but that Christians and Dignity 
may have to give to the needy. He taught of Labor ° 
the dignity of labor by working with his own hands. 
The apostle whose Lord worked as a carpenter, recog- 
nized the value of labor, the independence which it 
confers, and the curse and moral degradation of idle- 
ness. The rule he gave was that " if any would not 

23 



354 The New Society. 

work, neither should he eat." The charity of the 
Church did not rest on the great gifts of the wealthy, 
or on vast endowments for the relief of social need, 
but on the self-denial and the spirit of Christian love 
and brotherhood of the laboring classes. The first 
duty of the Church in regard to social relations was 
to find work for the unemployed, a much harder task 
in days of slavery than in ours ; but which it was 
forward to do. Prom the beginning the Church took 
care of its own poor, its sick, widows, and orphans. 
The poor at Jerusalem were specially remembered, as 
were always the widows and the desolate, widows 
above sixty years of age having a life pension from 
the Church. 

The fruits of labor were not for selfish enjoyment. 

The Christian spirit prompted to large and generous 

The Service hospitality; letters of Christian fellowship 

of Wealth. we re of substantial value. Covetousness 

Hospitality, 

Care oi the was rebuked, and on every hand aid com- 
Poor and ma nded to be given to the poor. This was 

Distressed. . . . 

illustrated and enforced in every service for 
worship. The Lord's Supper, observed each week in 
the smallest Christian assembly, always had an obla- 
tion or presentation of gifts for the poor. This char- 
ity, in its method, was as considerate and Christian as 
it was unceasing and abundant. The membership of 
the Church gave to the Lord as a part of divine wor- 
ship, and the poor received it from the Lord as min- 
istered through his Church. For this congregational 
care of the poor were set apart the deacons, the dea- 
conesses, and the widows of the Church. There did 
not fail personal investigation and ministration to the 
suffering and distressed. The ardent love which 



Christian Life and Society. 355 

prompted thank-offerings to God in compassion for 
human need, brought as well personal service. In 
the capital of the world, in the early part of the third 
century, the Roman bishop could boast there was no 
Christian beggar in that vast population. Twenty- 
five years later another bishop reckoned one thousand 
five hundred widows and poor under the care of the 
Church. The heathen Emperor Julian renders un- 
willing testimony to the continued and unbounding 
charity of the Christian Church. 

When Christianity became the religion of the 
State, the Church care of the poor, instead of being 
the relief of those in need in Christian con- The Congre- 
gregations, became that of the poor of the c£5jjj?^ 
entire community, under the charge of the comes that of 
bishop. Basil himself attended to the sick ^^SSl 
and the leprous. Chrysostom lived a life munity. 
of simplicity and self-denial in the midst of Byzantine 
luxury, while filling the most splendid ecclesiastical 
station of the age. At Antioch his Church cared for 
three thousand widows and virgins, while at Constan- 
tinople he fed daily seven thousand poor. At Alex- 
andria seven thousand five hundred received the care 
of the Church. Ambrose takes special care of the 
poor ; and Augustine desires no other garment than 
such as he can give to a poor brother. Gregory I 
had every month carts full of provision driven 
through the city for the relief of the poor, and dis- 
tributed among them grain, oil, wine, and meat. 
Every one in distress expected relief from the 
bishop , the poor Roman, homeless through the rav- 
ages of the barbarians > and the wild German, when 
suffering or in need, equally sought his aid, and never 



356 The New Society. 

found refusal. Yet this beneficence was subject to 
such impositions, when there could be no longer the 
close personal supervision of congregational care, that 
it is the burden of the complaint of Basil, Gregory 
Nazianzen, Ambrose, and Chrysostom. It seemed 
impossible to deal with it amid the appalling distress 
whose reality was unquestioned. 

The necessity for this more careful discrimination, 

and the rise of monasticism, caused the care of the 

The Care of poor to become institutional. The indi- 

the church v iduLal Christian no longer felt it his duty 

lor the Poor . . . ~ . ,.«,.« 

becomes in- to minister to the suffering and afflicted 
stitutionai, through the weekly offerings which were 
distributed by those having charge of the dependent 
members of the flock, the offering and the ministra- 
tion, both a work of Christian love. Now an order of 
men and women performed this service. One-fourth 
of the revenues of the Church which came into 
the hands of the bishop were devoted to the care of 
the poor and the needy. Not only the current rev- 
enues from the offerings of the faithful, but the in- 
come of the large landed estates of the Church, were 
used for this purpose. 

Personal solicitations did not cease, but the motive 
was no longer the warm Christian love moved to 
The compassion by a brother's need. From 
B^towin / 2 5° it; was taught that alms purged away 
Aims, sin. L,eo thus expresses the thought : 
" Alms destroy sins, abolish death, extinguish the 
penalty of eternal fire." The great influence of Au- 
gustine extended the merit of alms beyond death: 
"It is not to be doubted that the dead are assisted by 
the prayers of the Church, by the saving sacrifice, and 



Christian Life and Society. 357 

by alms which are offered for their souls, and that 
the Lord deals more mercifully with them than their 
sins have deserved." This teaching was elaborated 
into the doctrine of purgatory by Gregory the First, 
and was the motive for the abundant gifts of the suc- 
ceeding ages. 

This charity of the Church developed forms of 
wider usefulness after Christianity became the re- 
ligion of the empire. Basil was the pio- charitable 
neer in this work. He established the first '"^S^"*' 
Christian hospital at Neo-Csesarea, in 370. etc. 
It was a new thing in the heathen world. About it 
were grouped houses for strangers and for widows 
and orphans. The example of Basil found quick im- 
itation. In 375, Kphrem Syrus established one at 
Edessa; Chrysostom founded one at Antioch, and 
two at Constantinople. They were commended by 
the Council of Chalcedon, 451. They were first es- 
tablished in Rome, 398, by friends of Jerome. They 
became prevalent in the West from 500 to 550. Un- 
der Gregory I, 590-604, there were a large number 
in Italy, and thirty-five in Constantinople. Institu- 
tions were also established for the care of orphans, 
foundlings, and the aged ; and asylums for the in- 
sane, the blind, deaf and dumb, and for magdalens. 
These institutions were at first under the oversight of 
the bishop, but were afterward confided to a separate 
monastic order. 

The self-sacrificing love of the Christians did not 
stop with fellow-believers. Cyprian, 248-258, tells of 
the devastating plague at Carthage, and caring for 
how the Christians buried the dead left by the Dead - 
the heathen in the streets and the homes, and so saved 



358 The New Society. 

the city from further infection. The same service 
was rendered at Alexandria amid like circumstances 

One form of beneficence peculiar to those times 
was the redemption of Christians taken into captivity 
Release of the and slavery. For the purchase of the free- 
Captives. dom of the Numidian captives Cyprian 
collected in a few days $3,500. The great bishops of 
the time, and those under them., again and again sold 
the sacramental vessels of the Church to ransom cap- 
tives. Gregory I says: "It would be a sin and a 
crime to esteem the furniture of the Church above 
the prisoners." Candidus, Bishop of Sergiopolis, on 
one occasion ransomed 12,000 prisoners for $45,000. 
Prices were sometimes much higher. The Lombards 
demanded $350 for a clergyman, while $45,000 was 
paid as the ransom of two Cilician bishops. The 
Church and individuals were zealous in the work. 
On the gravestone of a Christian woman, Eugenia, 
we read : " With her treasures she delivered the pris- 
oners from unjust fetters. ,, Thus the Christian Church 
ministered to the overwhelming distress of the times. 
Well may Ulhorn say : "What would have become of 
the Roman Empire without Christianity? What num- 
bers has the Church assisted ; how much misery it 
alleviated ; how many tears it dried ! It ministered 
comfort and consolation to a dying world.' ' 

If Pompeii revealed to the modern world what 
heathenism was, the catacombs made a revelation 

The equally marvelous and irrefragable in re- 
catacombs. gar ^ to t h e uf e f t h e early Christian 

Church. The inscriptions — more than ten thousand 
in number — represent the life of the Christian soci- 
ety from the first century until the fall of Rome, in 



Christian Life and Society. 359 

410. In the rooms used as places of worship, and as 
family burial-places, and in the hundreds of miles of 
the tombs of the Christian community, are made clear 
the theology, the Christian usages, the cycle of Chris- 
tian thoughts, and, above all, the conceptions of the 
life beyond. The prominent elements of the Christian 
life, as there depicted, are purity, fellowship, family 
affection, and serene cheerfulness. Though a ceme- 
tery, there are revealed only abiding peace and joyful 
hope. No examples are found in the inscriptions of 
prayer for the dead, clerical celibacy, or the worship 
of Mary. 



Chapter III 

THE MONASTIC LIFE 

The fourth century saw the rise and rapid spread 
of that ideal of Christian life which has largely af- 
MonasticUfe fected the life of the Chuich since. It 
rheNew"^ dominates the Roman and Greek Catholic 
tament. Churches. There is no mention of it in 
the New Testament, and its life and ideals are the far- 
thest possible from the teachings of our L,ord. or of 
St. John or St. Paul. In the life of the eatly Church 
there was 5 on account of the present distress, a ten- 
dency toward celibacy. But there is only one passage, 
and that highly figurative (Rev. xiv, 4), which inti- 
mates that the celibate is superior to the married state, 
though it may be iess burdensome, and afford greater 
opportunities for the performance of Christian work. 
The influence of St. James and the example of John 
the Baptist were in its favor ; but with Paul, according 
to his own testimony^ it was a matter of expediency; 
while Peter, certainly living in marriage, has been 
honored as the chief of the apostles by the Churches 
most exalting celibacy. 

The monastic ideal was # . First, a withdrawal from 
the world; second, a mortification of the flesh through 
The Monastic severe fastings, denials of comforts > punish- 

ideai. ments like the wearing of haircloth or 
chains the neglect of the body; third, the life of 
contemplation and prayer dwelling solely upon God, 
360 



The Monastic Life, 361 

his Word, and the future life. This ideal, realized in 
a community of men or of women living in common, 
under rule, and bound by vow to chastity, poverty, 
and obedience, under a superior as the head of the 
community, forms the monastery. The ideal of such 
a life has never been better expressed than by St. 
Bernard: "To occupy one's self with God is not to 
be idle; it is the occupation of all occupations." 
The power of this ideal must not be undervalued. To 
do so is to fail to understand a large and influential 
portion of the history both of civilization and of the 
Church. There is need in Christian life for detach- 
ment from the world ; there is need for the denial 
and subjection of the body; there is need, if there is 
to be strength in the Christian soul and saving health 
in the Christian Church, for converse with God and 
dwelling upon his great thoughts for men. If these 
things are forgotten, or die out of the life of the 
Church at large, God will raise up, and believing 
hearts will find a refuge where they may perpetuate 
themselves ; and so the life of Christ may not fade 
from the vision of any generation of men. We need, 
for our own spiritual culture as well as understand- 
ing, to read sympathetically the record of this age-long 
striving after holiness, which preserved the power of 
the Christian life and the graces of the Christian 
spirit in ages of ignorance and violence, and of the 
secularization and sale of the holiest and most sacred 
offices of the Christian religion. It was a refuge 
from oppression, the abode of boundless kindness and 
charity to the poor, the wretched, and suffering, and 
a realm of quietude of spirit in a wild and stormy 
world. 



362 The NeW" Society. 

But this element of truth and this service of 
righteousness and charity must not blind us to the 
The Reverse reality of things, to the facts of history. 
S Monast£ e The monastic ideal and life is but a partial 

Ufe. and one-sided development of the Christian 
ideal, Christian teaching, and Christian life. Instead 
of endeavoring so to preach and apply the gospel of 
Jesus Christ as to save the whole man and the whole 
realm of society, it devotes itself to a part of our 
nature and a part of society, neglecting or suppressing 
the rest. The nature thus distorted had its own re- 
venge. The age of the greatest sunremacv of mo- 
nastic institutions was an age when Christianity must 
be reformed or die. No corruptions of a corrupt age 
and Church equaled the corruptions of the monas- 
teries. 

The tendency toward celibacy and poverty in the 
early Church did not result in the formation of a class 
No Monasti- of ascetics. The earliest notice ol such is 

Cl8 Eariy tl,e 110t bel ° re I 5°- At the Same time Jt ma y 

Church, be that the apostles and teachers mentioned 
in the " Teaching of the Twelve," in their life of 
wandering and evangelization, had no ties of family 
and home. This seems to be tne state ol things pre- 
sented to us in the so-called " Letter of Clement," 
about 300, where, also, the abuses to which it led point 
to the monastic life as a remedy. 

There were many contributing causes to the de- 
velopment of the monastic life. Among them may 
Causes oi the be mentioned the idea of two standards of 

spread*"? h°li ness an( * moral obligation, — one for the 
Monasticism. ordinary Christian, and another for the " re- 
ligious " or more devout: the teaching of Greek phi- 



The Monastic Life. 363 

losophy adopted by Origen, that the mind is purified 
and strengthened by the denial and ascetic treatment 
of the body ; the insistence upon the opposition be- 
tween the flesh and the spirit by the heretical sects, 
and the influence of those rigoristic ideals of Monta- 
nism which, being cast out of the Church, found refuge 
in the monastic circles ; and the contemplative spirit 
of the Eastern races. With these wrought the po- 
litical revolutions of the third century, the licentious- 
ness and luxury of heathen society, the persecutions 
of Decius and Diocletian, and the ruin brought upon 
the empire by the barbarian invasions. To these 
were added the sorrows, sufferings, and disappoint- 
ments which so often turn the course of the life of 
individuals. 

But the chief causes which determined the Chris- 
tian spirit toward this ideal were two, — the seculariza- 
tion of the Church, and the opportunity The Two 
afforded by the physical and social condi- chief Causes. 

. r -ta r The Seculari- 

tion of the population of Egypt for begin- 2at ion of the 
ning such a life. The Church of Cyprian church. 
is no longer the Church of denial, purity, humility, 
and the spiritual gifts of the first two centuries. The 
narrative of Eusebius shows the Church largely secu- 
larized before the Diocletian persecutions. This, which 
was the green tree before Constantine, became the dry 
when heathenism pressed into the State Church. The 
Christian ideal could not be realized in the established 
Church of the fourth century. That ideal could not 
die. It fled to the deserts and the retreats far from 
the world, society, and the great but secularized 
Church. In these at least, poverty, humility, and 
self-conquest should not die out of Christianity, while 



364 The New Socieiy. 

opportunity should be given for dwelling upon the 
eternal things of God, in whose presence the changes 
of human life and the revolutions in the history of the 
State and the Church are of so little importance. 

Egypt gave the opportunity for the development 
of this spirit of discontent with the great Church ot 
Physical and ^e em pi re > ' m th e direction of a flight from 
social Condi- the world and the formation of monastic 
tiono gypt. soc j e ti es a severe pestilence, which deci- 
mated the population, may have given an initial im- 
pulse. The climate allowed the reduction of the ne- 
cessities of human existence to a minimum. The 
warmth and even temperature, the bright and clear 
atmosphere, made necessary onlv the smallest amount 
and the simplest food. The soil in such a climate al- 
lowed the raising of the amount required with the 
least care and exertion, while the poor Coptic popula- 
tion had lived for ages with so little of the external 
conveniences or ornaments of life that the simplicity 
of the barest cell could scarcely impose an unaccus- 
tomed hardship, nor the fasts of the most rigorous 
self-denial distress them. 

The way for this, like all great changes, was gradu- 
ally prepared. From 200 to 250 there were ascetic 
Hermits and virgins and widows in the Church. From 
Anchorites. 2 ^ Qf members of the lower classes went 
into the desert and led a solitary life. A representa- 
tive of this class is St. Symeon Stylites, who lived, 
423-460, on the top of a pillar whose summit was only 
three feet in diameter, surrounded by a balustrade, 
and whose height was raised at different times from 
twelve to sixty feet. He ' fasted, taking but one meal 
a week, and less in L,ent. About his neck he wore a 



The Monastic Life. 365 

heavy iron chain. Three Christian emperors came to 
see him — Theodosius II, Marcian, and Leo — and 
crowds of strangers from all lands. By his life and 
exhortations he converted multitudes of Saracens and 
other nomads of the desert. About 300, Hieracas, a 
follower of Origen, at L,eontopolis, gathered around 
him a society of ascetics, whom he trained in theo- 
logical studies and a life of self-conquest. They were 
in a position between the ascetics, who did not aban- 
don family life and society, and those who followed 
the monastic life. Though monasticism was known 
before Christianity among the devotees of Brahman- 
ism and the regular monkish orders of Buddhism, 
and there had been in Egypt heathen recluses who 
dwelt in the same cell fifteen or twenty years, and the 
successive steps in Christianity of ascetics, hermits, 
and unorganized bodies of disciples around a single 
teacher or guide, yet before 300 there is no trace of 
monasticism. Our earliest account is from Egypt, 
310. It spread rapidly, and soon after was found in 
Palestine and Syria. 

All tendencies become crystallized into institu- 
tions only through some remarkable indi- 
vidual. Such was St. Antony, who more 
than any other was the founder of the monastic life in 
Christendom. 

Antony was an Egyptian, of the Coptic race and 
speech, and descended from wealthy parents, who 
were Christians. He was born at Coma, Life of 
near the Thebaid, about 251. From his Antony. 
parents he received a Christian training, was taught 
to read, but had no education in Greek literature or 
philosophy. He was pure in life, attended Church, 



366 The New Society. 

and loved his home. The death of his parents, when 
he was about eighteen years old, changed the whole 
current of his life, much as the like event did that of 
Gregory the Great, and the loss of his child the career 
of Paulinus of Nola. Six months later, while dwell- 
ing upon the apostolic example of sharing temporal 
goods, recorded in the second chapter of Acts, he 
entered the church, and heard read from the Gospel 
the words of our Lord to the rich young ruler: " If 
thou wilt be perfect, sell that thou hast, and give to 
the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; 
and come and follow me." He regarded it as a voice 
from God. His lands he gave to his native village, 
on condition that he should be relieved from the taxes; 
all his personal property he sold, and gave the pro- 
ceeds to the poor, except a small amount which he 
reserved for the support of a little sister, left in his 
charge by the death of his parents. Soon after he 
heard read in the church, " Take no thought for the 
morrow." In compliance with the admonition, he 
placed his sister under the charge of the virgins of the 
Church to care for and educate ; and selling the rem- 
nant of his property and distributing it to the needy, 
he entered upon an ascetic and contemplative life. 
In a place not far from his home he began his career. 
He labored with his hands; part of his earnings he 
spent for bread ; the rest he gave away. He was 
much in prayer, and gave such attention to reading 
the Scriptures that what he learned he remembered, 
so that his memory was his library. He fasted, and 
slept on the ground. His inward temptations became 
so great that he went to a tomb near a neighboring 
village, probably in a cave or grotto, and, taking with 



The Monastic Life. 367 

him a supply of bread, shut himself in alone. The 
next day a friend went by, and, looking in, found him 
insensible on the ground. He took him to the village, 
where he revived, but went back to renew the combat. 

In the ascetic life, where outward temptations are 
escaped, inward ones are never wanting. Antony 
found himself pursued by obscene thoughts Antony's 
and surrounded by visions of nude women. Temptations. 
He believed that demons filled the air about him, 
sometimes as savage beasts, and sometimes as devils. 
Not content with assailing his thoughts and defiling 
his imagination, he was assured that they set upon 
him with physical violence, the wounds and bruises 
of which remained after the vision had passed. Con- 
fiding in the Divine protection, he rebuked the evil 
spirits, when they gnashed their teeth upon him and 
withdrew. There is no question that the austeri- 
ties weakening his body, with the conflict in his mind, 
well-nigh unsettled his reason. 

After this severe conflict, when about thirty-four 
years of age, he withdrew to a deserted castle in the 
mountains. He took with him a sufficient Retirement 
supply of bread for six months. For this and counsel, 
necessary provision he returned twice a year. For 
twenty years, in this place, he led a strictly ascetic 
and contemplative life, tempted again by visions of 
devils, but comforted by visions of angels. He had 
now acquired that conquest over self, tranquillity of 
mind, and large knowledge of human nature, which 
made him a help and guide to others. So many re- 
sorted to him that, at length, to secure the needful re- 
tirement, he withdrew still further into the interior, 
some of the desert tribes showing him a high moun- 



368 The New Society. 

tain, with a limpid stream flowing at its base, sweet, 
cold, and healthful. There were near it a few wild 
palm-trees. Not far away he found a small tract of 
ground, which he watered, and upon which he raised 
the grain and vegetables he required. 

He seldom left his retreat ; but when he did, the 
effect was remarkable. Twice he visited Alexandria, 
His visits to once at the time of the Maximian persecu- 
Aiexandria. tion, 3 1 1, when he was sixty years of age. 
He ministered to the confessors in their chains; when 
before the tribunal he exhorted them to readiness to 
suffer, and accompanied them to their death. So 
great was his influence that the judge ordered no 
monk to appear in court, but all tp withdraw from 
the city. The others concealed themselves ; but An- 
tony remained. He showed himself openly to the 
governor, and continued his ministration to the con- 
fessors and martyrs. At the age of one hundred 
years he again visited Alexandria. The Arians had 
falsely reported that he agreed with them. Acced- 
ing to the request of the bishops and brethren, he 
came from his mountain home, and preached publicly 
against the Arians. All the citizens, the heathen, and 
even their priests, flocked to the church to see and 
hear him whom all called the man of God. As many 
heathen are said to have become Christians in the 
days of his visitation as previously in the same num- 
ber of years. Finally, at the age of one hundred and 
five, the time of his departure drew near. In the 
prevalent mania for the veneration of relics he had 
no share. He thought himself no better than the pa- 
triarchs, prophets, and Christ himself, who were 
buried. He commanded his disciples so to bury him 



The Monastic Life. 369 

that no man might know the place where rested his 
remains, which was faithfully done. He ordered gifts 
of his clothing — his only possessions — to be made to 
Athanasius and to another bishop who was a long-time 
friend. Then he kissed the brethren, blessed them, 
and was peacefully gathered to his fathers. 

Antony, through his experience, attained to great 
practical wisdom. He said: 'The weapons against 
evil spirits are an upright life and faith in wisdom of 
God. Prayer, fasting, contempt of money Antony, 
and reputation, love for the poor, with mildness and 
humilit}^, ate the means. 1 ' This wisdom is evinced by 
his sayings: "It is our duty to guard against evil 
thoughts, to keep the soul for the L,ord as if a charge 
accepted from him, so that he may recognize his 
work as made by him/ 1 " Man's great work is to 
to take his guilt upon himself before God, and expect 
temptations until his latest breath. Without tempta- 
tions, none can enter into the kingdom of heaven." 
To an abbot he gave this advice : " Trust not in your 
own righteousness, and regret not what is already 
past. 

Antony attained to such quiet confidence in God, 
and self-conquest, as became manifest in his counte- 
nance. The purity and serenity of his serenity of 
mind gave a composure of manner and a Antony. 
countenance never sad, but so joyful as to diffuse 
cheerfulness. His life knew neither boasting nor mur- 
muring, but he always gave thanks to God. "God 
only could heal afflictions, and whenever and to whom 
he would, he bestowed his benefits." 

Antony impressed his own age. His life, written 
by Athanasius, and the influence of Athanasius ur>on 

24 



370 The New Society. 

Jerome, gave such an impetus to the monastic life, 
both in the East and West, that he appears as the 
The Pounder rea ^ f° un( ier of monasticism. In Antony, 
ofMonasti- that life is seen in its fairest colors; for 
he had a peculiar vocation to a contempla- 
tive life, and that sound understanding which pre- 
served him from the extravagances so soon to appear 
in the monastic life. 

The monastic life spread with great rapidity in the 
East. The earliest form of rule for a monastic com- 

Deveiopment munit y is that of Pachomius, 350. It has 
of Eastern one hundred and ninety-four heads or di- 
onasticism. v j s j onSj an( j fts minute regulations and 
scrupulosity would drive mad an ordinary man. In 
Jerome's time — fifty years later — it numbered fifty 
thousand adherents. 

The rule of the greatest repute in the East was 
that of St. Basil, 330-390. An intimate knowledge of 
Rule of human nature, common sense, and high- 
Basil, toned piety characterize this rule. The 
whole life was given to prayer. The canonical hours 
were observed, the midday hour being divided into 
two, so as to make seven times a day. Work was not 
neglected for prayer ; for while the tongue was em- 
ployed in petition and praise, the hands were busy. 
The food was such as should nourish the body, and 
whatever was placed upon the table should be eaten. 
The clothing of the monk should show humility, 
simplicity, and cheapness. He was to wear the same 
garment day and night, and never to change it for 
work or rest. Weaving and shoemaking were the 
vocations preferred, and above all agriculture. Broth- 
ers working at a distance were to keep the hours of 



The Monastic Life. 371 

prayer in the field. No one was to call anything, 
either shoe, or vestment, or any necessary of life, his 
own. Silence was strictly observed, and no woman 
was allowed in the precincts of the monastery. Med- 
icine should not be rejected under the false notion 
that it is an interference with the will of God. No 
one was to leave the convent without the license of 
the superior. Such a monastery had its oratory, refec- 
tory, and other monastic offices, and orderly rows of 
contiguous cells inclosed in a high, protecting wall; 
and without were often straggling groups of cabins 
for the anchorites. From these their inmates repaired 
every Saturday and Sunday to the monastery for wor- 
ship and instruction, bringing with them the mats and 
baskets and other articles they had finished, and tak- 
ing back materials for the work of the next week, to- 
gether with a supply of bread and water, after having 
partaken of a little cooked food and wine in the gen- 
eral refectory. 

The monastery of Santa L,aura, on Mount Athos, is 
the type of the monasteries of the East. Its fortified 
inclosure includes between three and four 

. Santa Laura. 

acres, comprising two courts, m the center 
of which stands the catholicon, or church, surrounded 
by an open cloister, on which, from three sides, the 
cells open. The refectory, which opens from the 
west cloister facing the church, is a cruciform hall, 
the arms about one hundred feet in length and 
rounded at the ends. The monks in the East were 
orthodox and realistic. Their partisanship was igno- 
rant, fierce, and cruel, as was experienced by Flavian 
and Hypatia. They felt the corrupting influence of 
the prevalent saint and angel worship, and the ven- 



372 The New Society. 

eration of relics. The monasteries were under the 
jurisdiction of the bishops. As the Greek clergy 
marry, the monastic life has never affected the life of 
the clergy as in the West; but from it always came 
the incumbents of the bishoprics and the higher offices 
of the Church. Eastern monasticism was never as 
active or industrious, or exerted as great an influence 
upon learning and civilization, as the Western monas- 
tic institutions; still it is the complement and neces- 
sary support of the great secular Byzantine Church. 
The monastic life was commended to the West by 
the visit of Athanasius, the influence of the institu- 
Monastic tions of Basil upon the bishops banished to 
Life in the the East during the Arian controversy, and 
the exhortations of Ambrose, Chrysostom, 
and Augustine. But the real founder of Western 
monasticism was Eusebius Hieronymus, better known 
as St. Jerome. 

The place of his birth was Strido, not far from 
Aquileia, in the year 346. His parents were ortho- 
st. Jerome, dox Christians. They were not wealthy, 
His Life. ^^ owned houses and slaves. They prob- 
ably perished in the Gothic invasions of 377. Paul- 
inian, a brother, twenty years younger, lived con- 
stantly with Jerome after 385 ; a sister also, after a 
wayward life, embraced asceticism. Jerome was 
brought up in comfort, and had a good education. 
At about seventeen years of age he went to Rome for 
its completion. Professing the Christian faith, he was 
baptized before 366. Afterward he visited Gaul, stay- 
ing most of the time at Treves. From 370 to 373 
he lived an ascetic life with Rufinus and other friends 
at Aquileia. In 374 he traveled through Thrace, 



The Monastic Life. 373 

Pontus, Bithynia, Galatia, Cappadocia, and Cilicia, to 
Antioch. For five years, 374-379, he lived as a her- 
mit among other monks in the desert of Chalcis, near 
Antioch. He was ordained presbyter at Antioch in 
379, and then studied under the celebrated Apollina- 
ris of I^aodicea. In 380-381 he was at Constantino- 
ple, and enjoyed the tuition of Gregory of Nazianzen; 
he was also acquainted with Gregory of Nyssa. At 
that time weakness of his eyes made dictation neces- 
sary, and this was henceforth his usual method of 
composition. Here he translated into L,atin Eusebius 
and Origen. From 382 to 385 he was in Rome, the 
secretary of Pope Damasus, and acknowledged to be 
the most learned man of his time. He was not chosen 
Pope, as he had some expectation, and journeyed to 
Antioch, Jerusalem, and Egypt in 386. While in 
Egypt he studied with Didymus the Blind, the last 
great catechetical teacher of Alexandria. After visit- 
ing the Egyptian monasteries, he came to Bethlehem 
in the fall of 386. There he founded a monastery, in 
which he lived until his death, twenty-four years 
later, in 420. In this monastery he gave himself to 
Biblical studies and expounded the Scripture daily. 

The excitable, vain, and somewhat arrogant dispo- 
sition of Jerome involved him in abundant contro- 
versy. He wrote against Jovinian in defense of celib- 
acy; against his former friend Rufinus, in condem- 
nation of Origen ; and against Vigilantius, in favor of 
the veneration of martyrs, celibacy, and asceticism. 
He contended with his bishop, John of Jerusalem, 
and, through a misunderstanding for which he was 
not to blame , with Augustine. 

Jerome was not a theologian; but his wide and 



374 The New Society. 

accurate knowledge, versatile talent, literary style, and 
his indefatigable industry were used for the advance- 
ment of Biblical learning, and his services were sur- 
passed by Origen alone, whom he excelled in a more 
sober and rational exegesis. He was the best He- 
brew scholar among the fathers. His great achieve- 
ment, to which he devoted twenty- three years of his 
life, was the translation of the Greek and Hebrew 
Scriptures into the I^atin language. This is the Vul- 
gate Version, a translation never surpassed except by 
the English Version of 1611, and the German of I^u- 
ther. In his studies on the canon, he drew the 
marked distinction between the Old Testament Scrip- 
tures and the Apocrypha, which has been insisted 
on by Protestants. He rejected purgatory and mil- 
lenarianism, and held to the original equality of bish- 
ops and presbyters. In his " Commentaries " he 
endeavored to develop the literal and historic sense. 
On this account, and the wide range of his information, 
he is more helpful to the expositor than any other of 
the fathers. Jerome was passionate and bitter, vehe- 
ment and vacillating, full of prejudice and abusive in 
controversy, with a nervous dread of heresy that de- 
prived him of high moral courage. He was credulous 
and superstitious; but he was a man, through all sick- 
ness, disappointment, and disaster, of indomitable in- 
dustry, thorough scholarship, and self-denial, and a 
literary style which gives interest to all he wrote. In 
that nature, so stormy and so long disciplined, there 
must have been a rare power of attraction to gather 
around him such a circle of friends as those of which 
he was the center. These friends were mainly women, 
and women of the highest circles of the Roman aris- 



The Monastic Life. 375 

tocracy. Through them and their friends he exerted 
that influence which so powerfully promoted the mo- 
nastic life in the West. The times were those of the 
dissolution of Roman society and the overthrow of 
the Roman rule and civilization; no other source 
gives so vivid a picture of this period as the Letters 
of Jerome, from which these details are drawn. We 
see clearly the influences which promoted the monas- 
tic life, and the refuge it proved amid the throes of a 
dying world. 

The first Roman lady to begin the ascetic life was 
Marcella. She was decended from the family of the 
Marcelli, and had great wealth. Her mother, Albina, 
was left a widow by her father's early MarceIIa 
death. She entertained Athanasius when 
he came to Rome, in 340. Marcella married, and 
seven months later was left a widow, which she re- 
mained during life. She lived with her mother, in 
her palace on the Aventine and at her country seat 
near Rome. She began an ascetic life in 374. She 
lived simply, giving her wealth to the poor, but was 
moderate in her austerities, following the counsels of 
her mother, whom she never left. She met Jerome 
in 382. Her house became a center where a circle 
of wealthy ladies gathered around her for the study 
of the Scriptures, and for singing and prayer. After 
her mother's death, in 387, she lived in a little house 
outside the city, with her friend Principia, and de- 
voted her whole time to good works. In the sack of 
Rome, 410, she was injured by the Goths, and died a 
few days afterward. 

The first of the aristocratic ladies of Rome to 
make a pilgrimage to Palestine, and there begin an 



376 The New Society. 

ascetic life, was Melania. She was the daughter 

of the consular Marcellinus, and was born about 350. 

She married, but was left a widow at 

Melania, ^ 

twenty-two years of age. Two of her three 
children died soon after their father. She placed her 
son in the charge of the urban praetor, and sailed for 
Palestine in 372. She had met Jerome and his friend 
Rufinus, the translator of Origen into L,atin. Rufinus 
was in her company in Egypt in 374, and within six 
months was imprisoned, in the persecution under 
Valens. Melania went to Palestine, where, upon the 
Mount of Olives, in 375, she founded a community of 
fifty virgins. Her house was open to all. She was ac- 
quainted with John, Bishop of Jerusalem, with Je- 
rome, and with Paula, while Rufinus made his home 
there after his release. In 397, after an absence of 
twenty-five years, she returned to Rome to persuade 
her granddaughter, Melania the younger, to embrace 
an ascetic life. She found her married, and failed to 
separate her from her husband. On her way Rufinus 
traveled with her. They visited Augustine in Africa, 
and Paulinus at Nola. For the next two years she 
lived at Rome with her son, his two children, and his 
son-in-law. In 408 her son died, and the family left 
Rome. They traveled to Sicily and Africa, where 
she had estates. Rufinus accompanied them, and died 
in Sicily. They passed over to Africa, where her 
widowed daughter-in-law remained. Melania left 
them, and went on to Jerusalem, where she died 
forty days after her arrival, in 410. 

Melania, her granddaughter, was born in 383. 
When about thirteen she married a husband who 
was seventeen years of age. They were tenderly at- 



The Monastic Life. 377 

tached to each other. When the elder Melania re- 
turned to Jerusalem, she remained at Sagaste, in Africa, 
where her brother died. The wealth of neiania 
the grandmother came into her hands. She the Youn s er . 
gave away the estates she inherited in Gaul and Italy, 
but retained those in Spain and Africa. She is said 
to have liberated eight thousand slaves. Robbed of 
her property by Count Heraclian, she traveled with 
her husband and mother to Egypt, and settled in 
Bethlehem in 414. They attached themselves to Je- 
rome and the younger Paula. She reconciled the fol- 
lowers of Rufinus and Jerome. From her husband, 
Pisanius, she separated that he might become the 
head of a monastery, while she entered a convent. 
In 437 she is said to have visited Constantinople. 

The lives of two other noble women show the 
same tendency. Perhaps these details may be par- 
doned if they make the conditions of the Furiaand 
time more real, and clearer the forces im- Fabioia. 
pelling to the monastic life. Furia was of the oldest 
Roman aristocracy, and possessed a vast fortune. 
Her father and father-in-law were both consulars. 
Her husband died early, leaving her with a family of 
young sons and an infirm father. Through the influ- 
ence of her deceased mother and that of Jerome, she 
remained a widow. Fabiola was extremely wealthy, 
and of aristocratic descent. The vices of her first hus- 
band forced her to divorce him. For protection, she 
married a second husband w r hile the first was still 
alive; hence she was excluded from the Church. 
After the death of her second husband she went 
through a public penance, and was restored to its 
communion. She sold all her possessions, and sup- 



378 The New Society. 

ported monasteries in Italy and the islands ; she min- 
istered personally to the wants of the poor. In 395 
she visited Bethlehem, and was greatly attached to 
Jerome. She returned, when — with the aid of Pam- 
machius, the son-in-law of Paula — she established a 
hospital at Pontus, near Rome. In this she minis- 
tered personally to the worst and most offensive cases 
of disease and suffering until her death, in 399. 

By far the most interesting of this group of 

wealthy, intelligent, and pious women, was Paula 

and her family. Her mother and hus- 

Paula, 

band were descended from the greatest 
names in the history of Rome, while her father traced 
his descent to Agamemnon. She possessed great 
wealth, owning the whole town of Actium, called, 
from the victory of Augustus, Nicopoli. She was 
born in 347. She married early, and her husband 
died in 380, leaving her, at thirty-three years of age, 
with a family of four daughters and a son. In 382 
she entertained Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus, and 
Paulinus, Bishop of Antioch. Through them she be- 
came acquainted with Jerome, and received an im- 
pulse toward the ascetic life. Her married daughter, 
Blaesilla, lost her husband, and died in 384, in conse- 
quence, as it was thought, of ascetic severities. An- 
other daughter, Paulina, married, in 385, the Senator 
Pammachius, the cousin of Marcella, a jtnan of learn- 
ing, ability, and eloquence, the friend of Jerome and 
Augustine. Paulina, his wife, died in 397. After his 
wife's death he became a monk, while retaining his 
position as senator. He gave munificently to the 
poor, and, with Fabiola, established a hospital at 
Pontus of world-wide fame. He died in the siege of 



The Monastic Life. 379 

Rome by Alaric, in 409. In 386, Paula took her 
daughter Eustochium with her, leaving behind her 
daughter Rufina — who died soon after — and her son 
Toxatius, and sailed for the East. She visited Epi- 
phanius at Cyprus, and met Jerome at Antioch. They 
went to Egypt, and returned and settled in Bethle- 
hem in 386. This was her home until her death, 
eighteen years later, in 404. Paula knew Greek and 
Latin, and learned Hebrew. She had great love for 
the Scriptures, and read through the whole Bible with 
Jerome. She managed a convent for women with 
patience and tact. Once one of the wealthiest 
women of Rome, she gave away all her own and 
much of her children's property. She dressed in a 
coarse garb, and presented a sordid appearance while 
performing all sorts of menial duties in the relief of 
distress. She was slight in body and weak in health; 
her mortifications and illnesses wore her away. 
Her affection for Jerome and his love for her are as 
touching as any literary fellowship on record. 

Eustochium, her daughter, who was the first noble 
lady to take on the vow of perpetual celibacy, went 
with her mother to the East, and lived 

Eustochium. 

with her until her death. She took her 
mother's place at the head of the convent and in 
caring for Jerome, until her death in 418. Like her 
mother, she knew Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. 
Though small in stature, she possessed great cour- 
age and decision of character. 

The son of Paula married Leta, the daughter of a 
heathen priest. Leta became a Christian. 

_.- _ . «■••■'■ Toxatius. 

She wrote to Jerome m regard to the train- 
ing of her daughter Paula, in 401. While still a child, 



380 The New Society. 

but not until after her grandmother's death, she was 
sent to Bethlehem for her education. She was there 
in 416. 

Of this circle was Paulinus of Nola, visited by 
Melania and her family. His father was the Roman 
Paulinus governor of Gaul, and he was horn at Bor- 
ofNoia. deaux, 353. He was Roman consul be- 
fore 379. His wealth was so great that Ambrose calls 
his possessions kingdoms, and Augustine styles him 
" the richest of the rich." He was liberally educated. 
The poet Ausonius was his tutor. He reckoned 
Martin of Tours, Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome 
among his friends. He was baptized when about 
thirty years of age. Some six years later he married. 
Within the following year his son and brother died. 
He was ordained presbyter in 393. He determined 
to lead a monastic life, and retired to Nola, with his 
wife Therasia, in 394. There he was made bishop, 
in 409, and lived until his death, in 431. At Nola he 
built a monastery and three churches, while he and 
his wife lived in a humble dwelling. Paulinus grad- 
ually distributed his whole property. Uranius, his 
disciple, says: "He opened his barns to the poor, his 
storehouses to strangers who arrived. It was too 
small a thing for him to feed whole provinces ; he 
invited from all quarters those whom he fed and 
clothed. How many prisoners did he not ransom ; 
how many debtors oppressed by their creditors did 
he not liberate by paying off their debts, by the same 
pious deed drying the tears of the debtor and rejoic- 
ing the creditor!" His self-sacrifice and devotion 
are equaled by his humility and affection, and en- 
livened by a cheerful, playful humor. He was like 



The Monastic Worship. 381 

his time in his veneration of relics and worship ot 
saints. 

No one reading the sources can doubt that the re- 
lations of these noble women with Jerome were pure ; 
but there is a sensuousness in his language as he 
writes to them, which prejudices against the mo- 
nastic life more 'than attacks of its foes. Such rela- 
tions are always hazardous, and often corrupt. Purity 
of thought and purity of expression are found rather 
in the life of the Christian home than in that of the 
convent or monastery. 

Western monasticism differed necessarily from 
that of the East. On account of the climate, differ- 
ent buildings, furniture, dress, and fare Benedict 
were essential. Monasticism first flourished of Nursia « 
in Southern Gaul in monasteries founded by Greek 
monks, who studied Greek theology and Christian 
literature. In the rest of Gaul the bishops opposed 
monasticism as dualistic in teaching and practice. 
St. Martin of Tours first turned the tide in favor of 
the monks. Before long, bishops were taken from 
the monastery, and proved themselves pure in life 
and shepherds of the flock, who could neither be 
forced nor bribed. Jovinian and Vigilantius, adver- 
saries of Jerome, opposed the principles of the monas- 
tic life, the merit of good works, asceticism, and cel- 
ibacy, but were before their time, and the current 
was too strong for them. The name most influential 
in Western monasticism was Benedict of Nursia. He 
was born at Nursia, in the TJmbria, about 480. His 
parents were of the higher class. He was sent to 
Rome to complete his education. The immorality of 
his companions drove him to the life of a hermit ; for 



382 The New Society. 

many years he lived in a cave near Subiaco. At the 
request of the monks he undertook the government 
of their monastery, but found the vices of the monks 
too much for him. He withdrew, probably about 
530, to Monte Cassino, where, on the site of an old 
temple of Apollo, he founded his monastery and pub- 
lished his rule. He was tenderly attached to his 
sister Scholastica, who became the head of a convent 
of nuns. He met and rebuked Totila in 542, and 
died at Monte Cassino in 543. 

The Benedictine order was his great achievement. 
It spread quickly, and, though reformed again and 
The order of again, prevailed over all Western Europe. 
Benedict, ^t the outbreak of the Reformation, there 
were twelve thousand Benedictine monasteries. It 
was a great advance over all previous orders. It 
had a stronger organization, but avoided severe aus- 
terities. It divided the daily life between work, study, 
and prayer. In the summer, Easter to October 1st, 
work lasted from 6 o'clock to 10 A. M. ; then reading, 
from 10 to 12 ; the midday meal and a siesta or read- 
ing until 2.30; then work until evening. In the 
winter, October 1st to Lent, the monks read until 7 
A. M. ; then worked until 3 P. M. In Lent they 
worked from 9 A. M. until 7 P. M. Every one had to 
draw a book from the library, and read it through 
during Lent. The monks always observed the seven 
canonical hours of prayer (see Hours, p. 278). Eight 
hours were allowed for sleep. On Sundays and holy 
days the monks partook of holy communion. The 
Benedictines were allowed but two meals a day. At 
each meal two cooked dishes were served; but all 
flesh-meat was prohibited, though poultry, eggs, and 



The Monastic Worship. 383 

fish were allowed. Occasionally a third dish of fruit 
or young vegetables was provided. A pound of bread 
was given daily for each monk, which the abbot 
might increase to those who had hard work to do. A 
pint of wine was served daily to each member of the 
community, though Benedict recommends voluntary 
abstinence as the best course. This fare was better 
than that of the lower classes of any European peas- 
antry of that day. The dress, aside from the outer 
garb of the order, was allowed to be varied by the 
abbot, according to the exigencies of the climate and 
the weather. They did not glory in dirt, but had a 
change of raiment, and another dress when they went 
abroad from the monastery. The rule shows knowl- 
edge of human nature and strong common sense. 

They were a refuge from violence, and could pro- 
tect both their inmates and those seeking their aid. 
They represented the moral order of so- x heVa iueoi 
ciety, the protection of the Almighty God. the Monas- 
The prior of Solmes, having offended the teries « 
Lord of Sable, the latter met him on the bridge of 
the town, and exclaimed : " Monk, if I did not fear 
God, I would throw you into the Sarthe.'' " Monsig- 
neur," replied the monk, "if you fear God, I have 
nothing to fear." They afforded both place and pro- 
tection to women in an age of violence and fraud. A 
woman could avoid a hateful marriage by recourse to 
a convent. There she enjoyed consideration. The 
abbess of a great Benedictine house held a high po- 
sition among the proudest nobility of the land. So 
in the days of invasion, the strong monastery walls 
not only sheltered the neighboring inhabitants, but 
preserved them from starvation, when the rapine of 



384 The New Society. 

marauding bands left nothing for their sustenance. 
tn the famine in Campania, Benedict himself distrib- 
uted all the stores of the monastery of Monte Cassino 
to the poor, trusting in God for their renewal. The 
greatest benefit to civilization of the Benedictine rule 
was that it restored in Europe the dignity of labor. 
The free middle class of Rome, which had once been 
the strength of her armies and the State, had disap- 
peared, and manual labor was performed only by 
slaves. When the barbarians came in, the prejudice 
of a strong military class against labor was almost as 
great as that of the Roman population. But Bene- 
dict " taught the world again to work." It was work 
sanctified by prayer, by quiet contemplation, by the 
reading of the Scriptures, and by daily worship. 
Work and worship went hand in hand. 

The nearest task for the monastery was the clear- 
ing of the forest, the drainage of morass and fen, con- 
struction of good roads, and the erection of substan- 
tial and noble buildings. The monks not only taught 
agriculture, preserving the science of the old world 
which had passed away, but they taught the children 
of the community in the school. Any bright lad 
could, through them, come to command all the learn- 
ing of the time. The taste for literature and learning 
first shown in the monasteries of Southern Gaul was' 
greatly promoted, immediately after the death of Ben- 
edict, by the former Minister of State, Cassiodorus. 
He was a man of noble family, born in Calabria, a 
senator, and from 493 until 540, with the exception of 
a short interval, the minister, first, of Odoacer, and 
then of Theodoric and his descendants. He then re- 
tired to a monastery which he erected at Vivarium. 



The Monastic Worship. 385 

There he founded a' library and a school of copyists, 
busied with Christian science and classical learning. 
He lived in this beautiful retreat, and amid congenial 
occupations, until his ninety third year. Through his 
influence, the Benedictine libraries preserved the 
treasures of the old culture, the masters of Christian 
theology, and the Latin tongue. The Scriptorium 
was used daily to copy and illustrate manuscripts of 
the Scriptures, of the fathers, and of classical liter- 
ature. The indebtedness of European literature and 
learning to the monasteries is beyond estimate. 

But, nevertheless, the curse of the monastic life 
followed the Benedictines. Reformed by Bruno and 
Bernard, they had sunk into idleness and The Cursc ol 
sloth at the founding of the Mendicant the Monastic 
Orders, 12 15, and were worse than useless 
at the time of the Reformation. The always-present 
source of monastic degeneration was its false and 
perverted view of life and moral conduct. Monks 
were under the vow of chastity; therefore woman 
was a venomous serpent. All natural instincts, such 
as ties of relationship and friendship, were killed out- 
right. A sick brother was waited upon year after 
year, and yet never spoke a kind word to the at- 
tendant monk lest it should injure his humility. A 
brother, to keep from idle words, carried a large 
stone in h£ mouth for years. The loneliness and 
silence wrought an overscrupulousness, and some- 
times insanity. Spiritual pride was seldom absent 
from the monastery, and ambition and covetousness 
were frequent guests. The abbot had unlimited 
power, the power of an Oriental despot, and generally 
for life. If he were an oppressor, there was usually 

9$ 



386 The New Socieiy. 

no redress. Events of our day prove how cruel 
monkish punishments can be. A universal system 
of spying and reporting was inculcated as a religious 
duty. The monastery walls were pris&n walls as 
well. Yet if the abbot was slack in discipline, and 
wealth increased, in came idleness and sensuality. 
The most famous epicure of the century, the author 
of "The Physiology of Taste," relates how his first 
ideas of the gratification of the appetite were received, 
when, a boy at a feast of monks in a monastery. 
Coarseness and grossness were not far off, as Chaucer 
testifies in his " Canterbury Tales." An Italian 
author, writing a century later, 1476, declares that he 
has several times been present at the marriage of 
monks and nuns, and that " the well of the nunneries 
has as many little bones as in Bethlehem at Herod's 
time. Therefore," he says, "may the earth open and 
swallow up the wretches alive, with those who protect 
them!" He adds the following wish: " The best pun- 
ishment for them would be for God to abolish purga- 
tory; they would then receive no more alms, and 
would be forced to go back to their spades." Monta- 
lembert, the brilliant historian and defender of monas- 
ticism, says of its abuses: "They have been pointed 
out and stigmatized, from the origin of the monastic 
institution, by those saints and doctors who were its 
most ardent apologists, by Chrysostom as by Augus- 
tine. Combated, pursued, and repressed by the au- 
thors of all the rules and of all reforms, from St. Bene- 
dict to St. Bernard, these abuses and scandals peri- 
odically renewed themselves, like the heads of the 
hydra." 

Aside from all abuses, the social loss caused by 



The Monastic Worship. 387 

the monastic life was great. The hundreds of thou- 
sands of monks in Egypt and Syria, withdrawn from 
all productive employment and the defense of the 
land, greatly facilitated the conquests of the Saracens. 
The withdrawal of the purest and best spirits from 
the active life of the community lowered the moral 
tone of the whole. This was progressively weakened 
as the gentler and more refined members of the com- 
munity took vows of celibacy, and reared no families; 
so the succeeding generations were the children of 
the coarser and more violent. In the circumstances 
of modern life, the well-trained families of devoted 
Christian pastors outweigh the moral and spiritual 
influence of any monastery. From them children go 
to positions of honor and responsibility in the various 
callings of life, in the professions, in the walks of 
learning and the pursuits of science, and in high 
office in Church and State. On the other hand, the 
age rejects the spiritual selfishness of the monastic 
life. In the century following 1789, more of such 
institutions have been suppressed and destroyed in 
Roman Catholic countries than in all Protestant 
lands through the Reformation. 



Chapter IV. 

TURNING POINTS AND RESULTS. 

No Six centuries of human history or the history 
of institutions or society pass with an even flow. 
Change, advance, or retrogression marks each century 
of the record of the life of man. These changes, as 
they affected the different parts of the life of the 
Church and its development, have been related. We 
look now for the great events which affected the 
whole course of the life and work of the Church. 
Such was the reign of Constantine; such was the 
fall of Rome. 

The reign of Constantine made an epoch in 
Church history. The State and society became out- 
Reign of wardly Christian. Christianity entered into 
Constantine. legislation to ameliorate the lot of the pris- 
oner and the slave, and to elevate woman. The first 
great Council of the Church was held, and the first 
great Conciliar Creed was formulated. The heathen 
sacrifices, priests, and religion vanished when once 
the support of the State was withdrawn. Nor can it 
be said that the Church failed to respond to the great 
demand made upon her. The great names of her 
early history are in the century following the con- 
version of Constantine. But the Church of the en- 
tire community, established, paid, and responsible to 
the State, is always and necessarily different from 
the voluntary societies under the pagan empire. No 
383 



Turning Points and^ Results. 389 

longer worshiping in secret or in cheap and tempo- 
rary structures, the temples of the heathen gods, the 
basilicas of the civil administration, and the splendid 
erections of the emperors were dedicated to purposes 
of Christian worship. The great, the wealthy, the 
noble, crowded to the worship of the crucified Naza- 
rene. The beneficial change wrought in society and 
the State was great. Granted that the century suc- 
ceeding was one of theological controversy, we must 
bear in mind how great and how beneficial the change 
was from the revolutions of the previous century, 
when the sole motive was the acquisition of political 
power. Well has Findlay said: " Theological studies 
(which then engaged the attention of all classes) cer- 
tainly exercised a favorable influence on general moral- 
ity, if not on the temper of mankind; and the tone of 
society was characterized by a purity of manners and 
a degree of charitable feeling to inferiors which have 
probably never been surpassed." The changes, how- 
ever, were not all gain to the Church. The love- 
feast and the holy kiss in worship, which had been 
the expression of an ardent and enduring Christian 
affection, died out. "So did the expectation of the 
speedy second advent of our Lord, which was univer- 
sal in the Church at the time of Justin Martyr. The 
generous hospitality and weekly offerings of gifts to 
the poor ceased. The age of great prelates and of 
the monastic life had come. 

No one individual marks the greatness of this 
transition and the magnitude of its results more 
clearly than Eusebius Pamphilius, Bishop Eusebiusof 
of Caesarea. He was born, probably about c«sarea. 
260, at Caesarea. He lived through the forty years 



390 The New Society. 

of peace which the Church enjoyed between the per- 
secutions of Decius and his successors and that of 
Diocletian. At Csesarea, on the foundation of Origen, 
Pamphilius had gathered the best and amplest library 
in Christendom. That of Alexander, Bishop of Jeru- 
salem only a few miles distant, in easy reach, and 
used by Eusebius, was only second to it. Having 
been ordained a presbyter, he used these years and 
opportunities to acquire a vast erudition. L,ike thun- 
der from a clear sky, broke upon these quiet occupa- 
tions and laborious studies the Diocletian persecution. 
Of its horrors, Eusebius was an eye-witness. The 
friendship and instruction of Pamphilius had been as 
profitable to Eusebius as the use of his great library. 
He saw one after another of the Christian Church 
suffer martyrdom, the church-edifices torn down, the 
Scriptures thrown into the flames, and the presbyters 
hunted from place to place before his eyes. His 
friend and benefactor, whose name he adopted, was 
taken to prison. He ministered to him for years, and 
then saw him, with eleven others, led away to die. 
He beheld Christians tortured and martyred in Tyre 
and in Egypt, where he himself was imprisoned for 
the faith. Seven long years, with unforeseen intervals 
of cessation and of fury, the persecution endured. 
Then came the peace and the magnificent triumph of 
the religion of Christ. Eusebius estimated well the 
momentous nature of the change, and set himself to 
the work of composing the first history of the Church. 
All but the last book was probably written between 
313 and 315. The last book was added ten years 
later. Eusebius also conceived, on a grand scale, his 
"Chronicle," and his " Preparation," and " Demon- 



Turning Points and Results. 391 

stration of the Gospel." He was the author of nu- 
merous other works as well. From 325 to the death 
of Coustantine, 337, he was the chaplain, the intimate 
and confidential friend of the emperor, though re- 
siding mostly at Caesarea, and declining the See of 
Antioch. He lived until his eightieth year, having 
the love and respect of the city where he had exer- 
cised his long and useful ministry, and of which he 
had been bishop for thirty-five years. Eusebius was 
a scholar and a man of peace, distinguished for his 
fairness and moderation. In the Arian controversy 
he was not at home. He bore a prominent and 
creditable part at Nicsea; but he was a theological 
conservative; he could not advance beyond the po- 
sition of Origen, and did not understand the deeper 
thoughts of Athanasius. His part in the Synods of 
Tyre and Jerusalem in 335, and Constantinople in 
336, where he was led by the Arians under Eusebius 
of Nicomedia, though probably not sharing in their 
intrigues and injustice, did not add to his reputation. 
His tone of adulation in his Iyife and Orations on Con- 
stantine also deserves criticism. But the change from 
the scenes of Christian suffering to the table of the 
emperor and intimate friendship of a great man, a 
wise ruler, and one who had been the means of work- 
ing so great a change in Christian history, was too 
much for the susceptible nature of Eusebius. If he 
was too courtly a prelate for a Christian bishop, he 
at least did not pervert the truth. As a historian he 
is authentic. He preserves more to us from the early 
writers of Christianity, from the ancient history of 
the empires of the world, and from the philosophers, 
than almost any other writer of ancient times. He 



392 The New Socieiy. 

quotes one hundred authors for his ecclesiastical 
history alone, and is equally abundant in citations in 
his other great works. His was not a creative mind. 
He did not know how to use his materials or to tell 
a story; but he gave us in authentic form the facts. 
To few men does the Church owe a greater debt. 
He rescued her early history from oblivion, and wrote 
the most learned of the Apologies. 

The zeal of Constantine for the unity of the 
Church as a support of the State was manifested in 
Donatist the Donatists' schism. In 311 Mensurius, 
Schism. Bishop of Carthage, died. His successor, 
Caecilian, was elected by a part of the bishops of the 
provinces of the metropolitanate, and consecrated by 
Felix of Aptunga. The bishops not consulted de- 
clared the consecration illegal, because Felix, the 
consecrator, had, as they affirmed and the Catholics 
denied, been a traditor ; that is, had delivered up the 
Christian Scriptures to be burned in the Diocletian 
persecution. They held that the faults of the admin- 
istrator rendered all ecclesiastical acts performed by 
him null and void. Hence, Caecilian was not a 
bishop, because consecrated by Felix ; nor his clergy 
able to administer the sacraments, because ordained 
by him ; nor were those who were baptized by his 
clergy Christians. Hence arose a division through- 
out the African Church, which has hardly been sur- 
passed for sectarian bitterness. The Donatists assem- 
bled in 330 in one Synod 270 bishops. In spite of 
the endeavors of Constantine, who ordered an inves- 
tigation on the spot, and two hearings of the parties — 
at Aries, 314, and Milan, 316 — the schism continued. 
The Catholics held that the Holy Spirit was in the 



Turning Points and Results. 393 

Church and its ordinances irrespective of the faults 
of the individual administrator, and the Donatists 
that a Church which did not exclude known sinners 
was not holy and not a Church. One hundred years 
later they were as strong as ever. Augustine argued 
against them, and finally procured against them an 
imperial decree, 415; but both parties were over- 
whelmed in the common ruin of the Vandal invasion 
which their divisions had promoted. Schisms had be- 
fore arisen on account of the lapsed and their treat- 
ment, and in opposition to episcopal power; such 
were those of Felicissimus at Carthage, 250-300; 
Meletius, in Egypt, 305-365 ; and Novatian, at Rome, 
251-500. 

The material evidence of the great change made 
in the circumstances of Christianity are seen in Chris- 
tian art. Art is the last expression, the christian 
beautiful and enduring flower of a society Art * 
and civilization. There must be stability to the social 
order, somewhat of leisure, refinement, and wealth, 
before there can be character and impressiveness in 
art. The Christian art of this period has left its me- 
morials in frescoes, mosaics, a few examples of sculp- 
ture, the beginning of miniature-painting, and in 
architecture. 

The frescoes which have come down to us are from 
the walls of the catacombs. They were generally 
wrought in haste, and by artists of no 

1 mi A1A1 i Frescoes. 

great skill. There are some examples of 
rare beauty in wall decoration in the ornamental use 
of vine, foliage, and flowers, but the figures have 
usually little grace or beauty. The representations 
are largely of the events recorded in the Old and New 



394 The New Society. 

Testaments. The Christian feeling is everywhere 
evident in the treatment, which is so symbolical as to 
have little relation to reality, and the drawings do not 
require or show great artistic ability. Their value is 
very great, but more historical than aesthetic. 

" Mosaic decoration is the art of arranging small 

cubes of different substances and various colors, so as 

to present an ornamental pattern or an 

Mosaics. 

historical or symbolical picture." In eccle- 
siastical art pastes of glass artificially colored were 
used. The gilt cubes, or tesserce, so abundantly used 
to give gold back or foregrounds, were " formed by 
applying two thin plates of glass, with a film of gold- 
leaf between them, to a cube of earthenware, and then 
vitrifying the whole in a furnace." Such mosaics 
may be said to be a Christian art, and used on a grand 
scale only from the fourth century. The indestructi- 
ble nature of the material, which made the Italian 
artist Ghirlandajo call it the only painting for eter- 
nity ; the subdued richness of its coloring ; its grand 
and solemn character when used in large masses. — 
make it most appropriate for ecclesiastical use. The 
finest examples of this work for the period are at 
Rome, Ravenna, Thessalonica, and in St. Sophia at 
Constantinople concealed by the whitewash of the 
Moslems. A fine specimen of Mosaic work at Ra- 
venna shows the figure drawing of Byzantine art. 

Only three or four examples of Christian sculpture 

of the human figure for this period are known. They 

Sculpture and on ^ imitate the classic models. The other 

Miniature- sculptures of this age, of Christian origin, 

Painting. are ^ e relief around the sarcophagi, or 

stone coffins, in which the most wealthy interred their 



Turning Points and Results. 395 

dead. At this time began the practice of indenting 
squares into the text of Christian MSS., or service 
books, and painting in them some appropriate scene, 
and also the elaborate ornament of the text through 
the artistic illustration of the borders, the beginning 
and end of the sections, and the capital letters begin- 
ning the sections, as well as beautiful writing, and 
the use of gold or silver letters on the parchments. 
A few of these from this period, some of them very 
beautiful, have come down to us. 

The main field of Christian art in this period, and 
the scene of its triumphs, is in architecture, and 
mainly in the erection of Christian churches. The 
motive and the occasion were such as to make an 
epoch in the history of art. The realization of Chris- 
tian conceptions and aspirations through the art of 
the architect is an edifice suitable for Christian wor- 
ship. Structural art can have no higher theme. The 
opportunity was the greatest. An immense empire had 
been won to the Christian faith, and was to be pro- 
vided with places of worship. From whatever source 
the ruling motives came, the churches of the period 
may be divided into three classes,— the basilicas ; the 
round churches, an adaptation of the secular memorial 
or tomb ; and the churches of the Byzantine style. 

The basilicas were adaptations of the secular basil- 
ica, or building for the imperial adminis- 
tration, whether judicial or civil. Sketches 
of the ground-plans show the original idea and their 
adaptation to Christian use. 

The circular churches were found over a wide area, 
but were never numerous. St. George's, Thessalonica, 
and the ancient Pantheon at Rome, now converted 



396 The New Society. 

into a Christian temple, convey some idea of their 
appearance and use. 

By far the greatest triumph of the builder's art of 
this period is the Byzantine style of architecture, of 
Byzantine which the finest example is St. Sophia, at 
style. Constantinople, completed 563. In this 
style the building is nearly square, on the model of 
a Greek cross, with a large central dome. This dome 
first rested on piers or pillars ; but the success of the 
effort at St. Sophia to clear the space below of sup- 
ports by placing the great dome on two lesser ones, 
and so securing an audience-room one hundred feet 
wide and two hundred feet long without an interven- 
ing pier or column, found frequent imitation. Such 
a room, one hundred and seventy feet from the pave- 
ment to the ceiling of the dome, made it a most mag- 
ificent place for Christian assemblage, though, alas ! 
for more than four hundred years, a place of worship 
for the followers of Mohammed. A view of the inte- 
rior of this temple accompanies these pages. The 
exterior of the churches was not remarkable. Towers 
and spires were of later date — and St. Sophia was 
never finished — but the interior was often lavishly 
adorned and richly furnished. The description of 
Mr. Nesbit will enable us to realize the interior of a 
Christian church in a great city of the empire in this 
period. 

" A stately gateway gave admittance to a large 

court surrounded by covered colonnades, in the center 

interior of of which was a fountain or vase containing 

a Basilica. wa ter, so that ablutions might be performed 

before the church was entered. On one side of this 

court and entering from it was the baptistery. The 



Turning Points and Results. 397 

basilica was usually placed on the western side of the 
court, so that the rising sun shone on its front. This 
front was pierced by three or five doorways, accord- 
ing to the number of the aisles, and in that part 
which rose above the colonnade of the court windows 
of immense size admitted light to the interior. The 
wall between and above these windows was covered, 
sometimes in parts, with mosaic of glass in gold 
and color, but usually with plates of richly-colored 
marbles and porphyries, arranged so as to form pat- 
terns; sometimes, however, stucco painting was the 
cheaper substitute. When the building was of brick, 
the same decoration, by means of marble slabs or 
stucco, was designed for the whole exterior of the 
building. The doors were of bronze, adorned with 
sculptures in relief, and frequently gilt; or of wood, 
richly inlaid or carved. Curtains of the richest stuffs, 
often of purple or scarlet embroidered with gold, hung 
at the doors to exclude the heat of summer or the cold 
of winter, while the doors stood open. 

" In the interior, the whole floor was covered with 
tesselated pavement, or with slabs of many-colored 
marbles arranged in beautiful patterns. The aisles 
were separated from the nave by ranges of marble 
columns, whose capitals supported either arches or 
horizontal architraves. The great width of the nave — 
in a first-class basilica frequently more than eighty 
feet — and the forest of columns on either hand (one 
of the colonnades often containing twenty-four or 
more columns), when there were double aisles, pro- 
duced an architectural effect of great magnificence. 
The clerestory wall, above the first colonnade of pillars 
in the nave, was pierced by numerous immense win- 



398 The New Society. 

dows with arched heads, one of which was over each 
intercolumniation. These windows were, no doubt, 
divided by columns or pilasters and architraves, and 
the divisions fitted with slabs of marble pierced in a 
variety of patterns, and fitted with either alabaster or 
plain or colored glass. The roof was flat and of 
wood; where magnificence was sought, it was richly 
adorned with carving and gilt. The semi-dome, which 
covered the apse, was covered with mosaic pictures, 
the subject being mainly Christ, either seated or 
standing, with his apostles ranged on either hand. 
Where a transept was built, it was usually divided 
from the nave by an arch, the face of which, fronting 
the nave, was often also covered with mosaics; a co- 
lossal bust of Christ was often the central object of the 
picture, being placed above the crown of the arch, 
while on either side and below are represented the 
seven candlesticks, the symbols of the evangelists, 
and the twenty-four elders. 

" The apse was furnished with a bench following its 
circumference, for the higher clergy, in the center of 
which was a raised seat (cathedra) for the bishop ; the 
altar was usually placed on the chord of the apse on 
the top of a flight of steps, and parted off from the 
nave by railings (cancelli). Below it was often a plat- 
form or space, and this a quadrangular, usually ob- 
long, inclosure (chorus), in which the singers and 
readers were stationed. This inclosure was formed 
by railings, or dwarf walls, and connected with these 
was the ambo, or reading desk. In this space proba- 
bly benches were provided; but the rest of the Church 
was left altogether open and free. The seats in the 
chorus for the men of rank on the right, and women 



Turning Points and Results. 399 

of the same degree on the left, were either of marble 
or of carved wood, in many instances gilded, the rail- 
ings of the same material or bronze. Over the altar 
was a lofty and richly-decorated canopy (ciborium), 
from the arches of which hung curtains of stuffs of the 
richest colors, interwoven with gold. Curtains like 
these often depended from the arches of the nave, and 
hung at the doors. Vases, crowns, and lamps of sil- 
ver or gold hung from the arches, or were placed 
upon the dwarf walls, or partitions, which separated 
the various divisions of the edifice." 

The second turning point was the fall of Rome. 
One thing could have averted it. In the East it was 
averted, and the mightiest contributing The Fail 
cause was that Christianity became the re- 0| R° me « 
ligion of the entire population — of the higher classes 
as well as of the lower orders. Thus all were united 
in resisting the onset of the invaders. In the West 
the aristocracy and the governing classes remained 
heathen until the overthrow of the State. There was 
no union of the entire population to preserve the em- 
pire ; but the barbarians were hired as mercenaries, 
and their chiefs given great offices and commands, in 
hope that they would protect those incapable of rally- 
ing the natural defenders of the country against their 
foes. Then the virus of the Roman heathenism had 
so corrupted society that the real heathenism was not 
changed by a nominal profession of Christianity. 
After Treves, the capital of Eastern Gaul, had been 
taken and burned by the Franks, the first building 
re-erected was the theater, which was soon filled with 
the crowds of idle, worthless spectators. " The world 
laughs and dies/' said Salvian. So great was the cor- 



4<x> The New Society. 

ruption in North Africa that the Romans themselves 
said that only the Vandal invaders restored chastity. 

The fall of the empire brought the overthrow 
of the old culture and civilization in the West and 
its limitation in the East. Arts, literature, and 
learning necessarily decayed. Not only 
through the was no advance possible, but there was 
Barbarian a retrogression for centuries. The rude- 
Conquest. nesg o ^ b ar barism, slowly groping to- 
ward civilization, covered all the lands of the 
West. Only the remnants of culture and the arts of 
life remained. These were preserved by the Church, 
but purged, of course, from the old leaven of idolatry, 
cruelty, and licentiousness. In the East the splendid 
reign of Justinian displayed a remarkable development 
of architecture, and secured the codification of the 
Roman law. The Church, which had overthrown 
the heathen civilization, had now to undertake the 
training of the new races who were to form the new 
world. She did not fail in her task, but she herself 
suffered grievous loss. The ignorance, superstition, 
the violence and crudeness of those ages, left its mark, 
not only on society, but on the Church. The Chris- 
tian life, the worship, and the theology, were 
coarsened and materialized by it. From Augustine, 
354-429, to Anselm, 1033-1109, is a long distance; but 
in that time arose no great theological thinker of emi- 
nence, and very few men of the learning of Bede or 
Alcuin appeared in the intervening centuries. This 
influence became marked in the time from Chrysos- 
tom to Gregory. Prof. Harnack has pointed out the 
change between the Church of Eusebius, 260-340, 
free from the worship of saints and intercessions with 



Turning Points and Results. 401 

God, from the use of amulets and other heathen prac- 
tices, and that of Sozomen's day, one hundred years 
later, which had already become brutish, monkish, 
and superstitious. A superstition was always ready, 
and deceptions were often knowingly furthered by the 
priests, or at least not rebuked, for fear of injuring 
the faith of the people. If practice or belief were 
deemed pious, they did not inquire whether it were 
true. 

There were no decisions of the Oecumenical Coun- 
cils of this period which go beyond the faith held in 
common by Protestants and Roman Catholics; but 
there were popularly-accepted doctrines and practices 
which we can not but regard as perversions of the 
simplicity and purity of the gospel. Such were the 
doctrines of the transformation, if not transubtantia- 
tion of the elements in the Lord's Supper ; the sacer- 
dotal office and power of the priest ; the jurisdiction 
of the Pope ; the teaching of purgatory and the merit 
of good works. Such were the usages of an elaborate 
and priestly liturgical worship, the worship of saints 
and angels, the veneration of relics, the practices of 
pilgrimages, and, above all, the celibacy of the clergy 
and the monastic orders, with the usurpation and 
moral corruption which accompany it. All these come 
in after 250. Above all, the old joy of Christian life 
had fled. Gregoria, a lady in waiting to the empress 
at Constantinople, wrote to Gregory I that he must 
assure her by revelation of the forgiveness of her sins. 
In his reply he wrote : " Thou must not surrender tin - 
self to full security on account of thy sins, till on the 
day of thy death thou canst weep for them no more. 
Till that day comes, thou must ever fear and tremble 

26 



402 . The New Society. 

on account of thy sins." How different from the 
words of the Savior: "Thy sins, which are many, 
are all forgiven thee;" from the words of St. Paul: 
" In whom we have redemption, even the forgiveness 
of sins! " How different from the faith and joy of the 
early Church ! 

Yet in spite of these declensions, there were im- 
mense gains, which civilization has never lost. Idola- 
try and bloody sacrifices perished from the 

The Gain to J „ . / i ^ . . . 

Civilization vast domain conquered by Christianity. 
through the fhis was the first and greatest achieve- 

Church. . „ 

ment. Bloody spectacles and games, pub- 
lic licentiousness, and nameless vice disappeared with 
heathenism. Marriage had a sanction and a sacred- 
ness, the home a purity, and woman a position of honor 
before unknown. Mercy came into the public law 
and civil society through the Church. She had been 
a stranger to the heathen civilization. The children, 
widows, orphans, slaves, prisoners, the sick and the 
maimed, the wretched debtor, and the outcast, felt 
her blessed presence, and rejoiced in her healing, help- 
ful ministry. Christianity brought in the public wor- 
ship of the congregation. The worship of the heathen 
is always private, or state or tribal function. Chris- 
tian worship of the Heavenly Father and the com- 
mon hope of immortality formed the most universal, 
profound, and permanent of social ties. The Chris- 
tian doctrine of universal brotherhood was the source 
of all social amelioration and political advance. 
Christians should always remember that we owe to 
the Church of this age the collection and preserva- 
tion of the writings of the New Testament, and its 
use as a standard both of life and doctrine. No other 



Turning Points and Results. 403 

service can exceed this. We owe to it the heroism 
of martyrdom and the faith that faced the world and 
conquered it. We owe to it the shaping of those doc- 
trines of the nature of God and of the Redeemer, of 
sin and redemption, which are distinctively Christian. 
We owe to it the discipline, first of the Church, and 
then of the monastery which preserved moral stand- 
ards and exalted moral purity. We can not but be 
touched by the spirit that left all that men hold dear 
to draw near and converse with God; that shrunk 
from no sacrifice to minister to human suffering and 
distress. Prayer and mercy have their lessons for 
every age. 

With what a company of noble men and saintly 
women we have journeyed through these change- 
ful centuries ! What national history can The NoWe 
show men of higher character, loftier Company of 
achievements ! Athanasius and Ambrose, w^/who 
L,eo and Gregory, would rank as great Founded the 
statesmen in any age. Origen, Eusebius, ewWorId - 
and Jerome have rarely been equaled among scholars. 
Irenseus and Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, and Augus- 
tine, traced the paths in which, during the ages since, 
the Christian thinkers have walked. What orator has 
surpassed Chrysostom in persuasiveness, or Tertul- 
lian in impassioned advocacy? In practical philan- 
thropy few have wrought so effectively as Basil and 
Benedict ! Women like Monica and Anthusa glorify 
motherhood. Scholastica, the sister of Benedict, and 
Olympias, the friend of Chrysostom, are types of 
women whose love and service in every age have 
made pure and strong the Church. How high is the 
average of moral character and attainment! Men 



404 The New Society. 

like Cyprian and Augustine, Leo and Gregory — the 
influence of many of whose opinions we deplore — 
were men of pure motives and exalted character. 
The very heretics, like Marcion and Arius, command 
our respect. If the style in which the Christian 
fathers wrote is often not as attractive as the thought 
conveyed, and we are repelled by diffuseness or lack 
of form, or, as is sometimes the case, turgid orna- 
ment, let us remember that they wrote in the decline 
of letters, and apply Macaulay's test of comparing 
these authors with their contemporaries, and we shall 
not need to defend them, even upon the score of 
style. No L,atin authors of the time surpass Tertul- 
lian, Augustine, or Jerome, and the same is true of 
the Greek fathers, like Athanasius, the Gregorys, 
and Chrysostom. 

The violence of prelates like Cyril and Dioscurus 
of Alexandria ; the weakness of those like Iyiberius 
Darker and Vigilius of Rome; the bitterness of 
shades, theological controversy, the ignorance and 
sordidness of the monks, the heathenism in life and 
worship, which in the last two centuries crowded out 
the sermon and the Scriptures, and brought in the 
saints and magic, are the dark spots in the picture. 

But what age has ever surpassed the Church of 
fellowship and martyrdom ; of spiritual gifts and con- 
quest? What religious ideas have ever 

Conclusion. ^ . --,*.- 

wrought such immense and beneficial 
changes in human society ? We who have stood at 
the fountain-head and traced the stream from its 
source, may well be assured of the supreme might 
and majesty of those spiritual forces which Christian- 
ity has made the possession of mankind ; that no ex- 



Turning Points and Results. 405 

ternal foe can check her career of universal conquest ; 
that the only foes that can endanger her are inward 
ones ; that while she needs to be abreast, if not leading 
the intellectual advance, the conquests of truth, and 
the material forces of each age ; yet the symbol of her 
unity as the seal of her conquest is the abiding Christ 
in the human heart, in human life, and in human so- 
ciety. By this sign she conquers. As we close our 
survey, Western Christendom is slowly emerging from 
barbarism, and yet for six hundred years successive 
attacks of heathen invaders are to be repelled, and 
heathen nations — Saxons, Danes, Scandinavians, and 
the Slavic people — are to be converted to the Christian 
faith. Above lowers the cloud of the Mohammedan 
conquests, which are to wrest the fairest provinces from 
the Eastern Empire and the holy places of the faith 
from Christendom. Yet we sing with Cromwell's 
charging pikemen the words of the Hebrew psalmist, 
" God is in the midst of her, God shall help her, and 
that right early ;" and, in the words of the old Byzan- 
tine motto, pray, " Light of Christ, shine on all." Yea, 
in the full assurance of faith, we join in the prayer of 
all Christians, of every name, of every age, and all 
lands, the holy Church alike in earth and heaven, 
"Thy kingdom come. " 



The End. 



APPENDIX. 



Note A, pp. 57, 206. — Residence of St, Peter in 
Rome. — The Roman Catholic tradition of a twenty-five 
years' residence and rule of St. Peter in Rome is certainly 
false. On the other hand, the tradition as to his death in 
Rome is uncontradicted by any evidence in favor of any 
other city or place. It is traced back to the first century, as 
it is referred to in a letter of Clement of Rome, between 
90 and 100. The archaeological evidence, though of a latter 
date, is altogether in its favor. From all the evidence now at 
hand, the author regards the tradition that St. Peter was 
martyred at Rome under Nero, in spite of the lack of any 
reference to him in the letters of St. Paul, as historically true. 

Note B, p. 276. — Mode of Baptism. — The usual mode of 
baptism was by immersion. This is the mode in use in the 
Greek Church from the earliest times, and in the Roman 
Catholic Church ordinarily, until the latter part of the 
thirteenth century. On the other hand, in all probability, 
other modes of baptism were in use from the beginning. 
The baptisms recorded in the sixteenth of Acts, were more 
probably by pouring or sprinkling than by immersion. If the 
early Church baptized for the dead, there is no probability 
that the sick died unbaptized when they could not be im- 
mersed. A choice of modes is given in the Teaching of the 
Twelve, dating from no. So one mode at that date, and 
probably from the first, was not essential to the sacrament. 
To this agrees the representation of the baptism of the 
Holy Spirit. Most of the representations of baptism, which 
the author has seen in the Catacombs, represent pouring 
rather than immersion. Yet a drawing on a pontifical in 
Rome of the ninth century represents baptism, both adult 
and infant, by immersion. 
406 



Appendix. 407 

No denomination of Christians at the present day bap- 
tizes as did the early Chnrch. Then the candidates im- 
mersed themselves three times in the name of the Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost, standing in water np to the waist, and 
dipping the head under water three times. This shows how 
the multitudes of barbarians were baptized in the rivers in 
Germany and Russia. 

Note C, p. 316. — The Population op Rome. — The latest 
researches, notably those of Professor Iyanciani, show that at 
the height of its power, the population of ancient Rome was 
not more than one million. While the numbers given in the 
text are thus reduced, the slave, was probably greater, rather 
than less, than the free population. 



NOTE. 



Professor Harnack gives the following chronology 
of Paul's life and writings : 

Paul's conversion, 29 or 30 A. D., within a year or year 
and a half of the death of our Lord. 

Paul in Arabia until 33 A. D. 

Finished the First Missionary Journey, 47 A. D. 

Council at Jerusalem, 47 A. D. 

Second and Third Missionary Journeys of Paul, from 
47 to 54 A. D. 

1 and 2 Thessalonians were written, 48 or 49 A. D. 

Galatians, 53 A. D. 

1 and 2 Corinthians, 53 A. D. 

Romans, winter 53 and 54 A. D. 

Paul leaves Corinth, 54 A. D. 

He is in Jerusalem and arrested, spring of 54 A. D. 

Paul in prison at Csesarea, from 54 to 56 A. D. 

Arrives in Rome, spring of 57 A. D. 

In prison at Rome, from 57 to 59 A. D. 

Colossians, Philemon, Ephesians, and Philippians writ- 
ten, 57-59 A. D. 

From the end of the Acts until Paul's death, 59-64 
A. D., five years. This gives ample time for the pastoral 
epistles, Titus and 1 and 2 Timothy. 
408 



INDEX. 



Acoi<yths, 227. 

Administration, Provincial, 40. 

Adrianople, Battle of, 91. 

Advent, 278. 

^diles, 35, 37. 

Agabns, 182. 

Agriculture, Roman, 45. 

Agrippina, 33, 306. 

Alaric, 78, 85, 87. 

Alb, 290. 

Alboin, 92. 

Alexander, of Jerusalem, 73. 

Alexander Severus, 70. 

Alms, 356. 

Ambrose, 195. 

Ammonius Saccas, 326. 

Amusements, 329. 

Anastasius, 82. 

Anaxagoras, 320. 

Anaximander, 319. 

Anaximines, 319. 

Anchorites, 364. 

Ancyra, Council of, 229. 

Anthusa, 403. 

Antinous, 308. 

Antoninus Pius, 33, 66. 

Antony, Saint, 365fF. 

Appius Silanus, 306. 

Apollinaris of Laodicea, 155. 

Apollos, 182. 

Apologists, 71. 

Apostles' Creed, 122; consti- 
tutions, 256. 

Apostolic Church, 55, 181 ; Fa- 
thers, 114; succession, 189. 

Arbitration, 231. 

Arcadius, 82, 293. 

Archdeacons, 228. 

Archpresbyters, 228. 

Architecture, 3956% 

Arianism, 146, 



Arians, 93. 

Aristocracy, Roman, 43. 

Aristotle, 322. 

Arius, 145. 

Arria, 312. 

Art, Christian, 393. 

Assumption, 290. 

Asylum, 231. 

Athanasius, 146-151. 

Augustales, 44, 39. 

Augustine, 72, 166 ff., 172, 340; 

of Canterbury, 102. 
Augustus, 32. 
Aurelian, 73. 
Auxentius, 195. 

Babyi,as, 73. 

Baptism, 275. 

Baradeus, Jacob, 164. 

Barbarians, 90, 93; conquest, 
209,400; conversion, 93; in- 
vasion, 80. 

Barnabas, 115. 

Basil, 154, 370. 

Basilicas, 395. 

Belisarius, 85, 87. 

Benedict of Nursia, 381. 

Bennett, Dr. C. W., 272, 276. 

Bible, 288. 

Birth and growth of Church, 

55- 

Bishops, 187, 191, 219. 
Britannicus, 33, 306. 
British Empire, 28, 31. 
Bystanders, 284. 

C^SARIUS OF ARI,KS, 2^2. 

Caesars, 32. 
Caligula, 32, 64. 
Callistus, 211. 
Calixtus of Rome, 280. 
409 



4io 



Index. 



Candidus of Sergiopolis, 358. 
Cappadocians, The three, 

154. 

Captives, 96, 358. 

Caracalla, 70. 

Cardinals' robes, 290. 

Carneades, 324. 

Cams, 73. 

Cassiarms, John, 171. 

Cassiodorus, 384. 

Catechumens, 349. 

Catacombs, 358. 

Catholic worship, 266. 

Celibacy, 229. 

Censors, 35. 

Cerinthus, 118. 

Chalcedon, 161. 

Charity, 353. 

Children, Roman, 313; Chris- 
tian, 343. 

Christmas, 278. 

Chrysostom, 211, 291. 

Church, Birth, 55 ; Apostolic, 
55, 181 ; Greek, 61 ; Syriac, 
61 ; Western, 62. 

Cicero, 318. 

Circus, 330. 

Cities of Rome, 36. 

Citizens of Rome, 44. 

Claudius, 32, 33, 64, 73, 304. 

Clement, of Rome, 115; of 
Alexandria, 130. 

Clementine Homilies, 59. 

Clergy, Minor, 227; celibacy, 
229; exemption, 227. 

Clotilda, 94. 

Clovis, 92, 94, 101. 

Coliseum, 103, 334. 

Collection of taxes, 42. 

Columba, 100. 

Commerce, Roman, 45. 

Commodus, 33, 66. 

Communion, Holy, 244ff. ; with 
God, 348. 

Concubinage, 342. 

Confession, 285ff. 

Conquest, Christian, 77 ; Bar- 
barian, 209, 400; lessons, 
105. 

Constantine the Great, 34, 76, 



78, 388 ; Chlorus, 76 ; dona- 
tion, 224. 
Constantinople, 78 ; Creed, 155; 

First Council, 155; Second 

Council, 165. 
Constantius, 149, 150, 151. 
Consuls, 35. 
Continuity, 104. 
Controversies with heretics, 

207; Theological, 210. 
Copiatae, 228. 
Corbulo, 308. 
Cornelius Silius, 305. 
Corruption, 288, 310, 337. 
Creeds, Apostles', 122; Nicean, 

153 ; Constantinople, 155 ; 

Chalcedon, 163. 
Currency, Roman, 45. 
Cyprian, 192, 255, 273, 282. 
Cyril of Alexandria, 159, 161 ; 

of Jerusalem, 259. 

Dalmatic, 290. 

Deaconesses, 184. 

Deacons, 185. 

Dead, Caring for the, 357. 

Decian persecution, 73. 

Decius, 33, 72. 

Decline, Causes of, 46. 

Decurionate, 38. 

Democritus, 320. 

Didymus the Blind, 157. 

Diocletian, 33, 73. 

Diodorus, 157, 165. 

Dioscurus, 158, 160. 

Discipline, 279, 350. 

Divine Order, 104. 

Divorce, 310. 

Dissoluteness, 310. 

Doctrines, n6ff. ; God, 52; for- 
giveness, 52 ; love, 53 ; im- 
mortality, 53. 

Domitia L,epida, 307. 

Domitian, 33, 65, 308. 

Domitilla, 62. 

Donation of Constantine, 224. 

Donatist Schism, 392. 

Duumviri, 37. 

Dynamistic Monarchianism, 
144. 



Index. 



411 



Easter* 277. 

Ebionites, 59, 117. 

Economic conditions of Em- 
pire, 44. 

Education, 325. 

Egypt, 364. 

Elagabalus, 70, 308. 

Elders, Jewish, 182. 

Eleatic philosophy, 321 

Elkasites, 59. 

Elvira, Council of, 229. 

Empedocles, 320. 

Emperors, Eastern, 82 ; wor- 
ship, 41. 

Empire of the East, 79ff. 

Ephesian liturgy, 272. 

Epictetus, 324. 

Epicureanism, 323. 

Epiphanius, 158, 294. 

Epiphany, 278. 

Episcopate, 123, 193. 

Epistles, 115. 

Ephesus, Council of, 159. 

Ethelbert, of Kent, 102. 

Eucharist, 244, 249, 252, 255. 

Eudoxia, 293. 

Eusebius, 389ff. 

Eustochium, 379. 

Eutropius, 293. 

Eutyches, 160, 162. 

Exemption of clergy, 231. 

Exorcists, 227. 

Fabianus, 73. 

Fabiola, 377. 

Faith of the early Church, 114. 

Fall of Rome, 79, 87, 399. 

Famine, 86. 

Fannia, 313. 

Fasting, 255, 257. 

Fausta, 308. 

Felicitas, 69. 

Fellowship, 347. 

Findlay, 389. 

Flavian, 160, 292, 371. 

Flavian Emperors, 33. 

Flavius Clemens, 62. 

Forged Decretals, 224. 

Forgiveness of sin, 280. 



Franks, 72. 
Freeman, E. A., 28, 
Frescoes, 393. 
Friedlander, 311. 
Furia, 377. 

Gainas, 293. 

Galba, 33. 

Galen, 340. 

Galerius, 73, 74. 

Gallienus, 73. 

Gallus, 73. 

Games of amphitheater, 331. 

Gangra, Council of, 229. 

Genseric, 87. 

Gibbon, 33, 74. 

Gladiators, 331. 

Gnosticism, 119, 117. 

Gods, 327. 

Gordians, The three, 70. 

Gore, Canon, 162. 

Goths, 87, 91. 

Government, Roman, 34 ; of 
cities, 37. 

Gratian, 197. 

Greek Church, 60, 61, 82 ; wor- 
ship, 259. 

Gregory, the Great, 87, 217-222 ; 
the Illuminator, 61 ; Nazian- 
zen, 155; of Nyssa, 155. 

Hadrian, 33, 66, 308. 
Harnack, Adolf, 156, 264, 400, 

406. 
Heathen, elements, 290; Rome; 

304. . 
Heraclitus, 319. 
Hearers, 283. 
Heresies, 61, 119, 124, 142, 144, 

146. 
Hermas, 116. 
Hermits, 97, 364. 
Hieracas, 365. 
Hilary of Poitiers, 230. 
Hippo, 169. 

Hippolytus, 124, 126, 212. 
Home, Christian, 341. 
Homer, 317. 
Honorius, 78, 88. 



412 



Index. 



Hooker, 151, 
Horace, 318. 
Hosius, 151. 
Hospitality, 354. 
Hospitals, 357. 
Hours of prayer, 278. 
Hypatia, 371. 

Ibas of Edessa, 158, 165. 
Ideal, Christian, 234. 
Idolatry, 327. 
Ignatius, 66, 115. 
Immersion, 276. 
Incense, 291. 
Innocent I, 158, 212. 
Instruction, 349. 
Iona, 100. 
Irenaeus, 124, 125. 
Isidore of Pelusium, 158. 
Italy, its fate, 85. 

Jacobites, 164. 

James, 57, 59. 

Jerome, 212, 372ff. 

Jerusalem, center of Church, 

206. 
Jesus Christ, 50. 
Jews, 50, 59. 
John, 58, 113; of Damascus, 

323. 
Jovian, 151. 
Jovinian, 381. 
Julia, 305. 
Julia Mammea, 70. 
Julian, Apostate, 34, 78, 151. 
Julius Caesar, 32, 91 ; Catonius, 

305 ; Silanus, 307. 
Justin I, 82; Justin II, 83; 

Justin Martyr, 66, 72, 250. 
Justinian, 83. 

Kebijs, 286. 

Kiss, holy, 246, 251, 389. 

Kneelers, 284. 

Labor, dignified, 353, 384. 
Laurentius, 73. 
Lecky, 74. 
Lectors, 227. 



Lent, 277, 

Leo I, 82, 213. 

Leonidas, 69. 

Lessons of the conquest, 105. 

Leta, 379. 

Libanius, 292. 

Liberius, Pope, 211. 

Lightfoot, Bishop, 233. 

Literature, 319. 

Liturgy, 261, 269, 270, 272, 275. 

Livy, 3!8. 

Logos, 145. 

Lollia Paullina, 307. 

Lombards, 92. 

Lord's Prayer, 271. 

Lord's Supper, 242, 244, 249, 

25L 255. 
Love-feast, 242, 244. 
Lucian, 308. 
Lucius, 182. 

M^CKNAS, 317. 

Magistrates, 34 ; of cities, 37. 

Manaen,i82. 

Mani, 120. 

Manichseism, 120. 

Manufactures, Roman, 45. 

Marcella, 375. 

Marcia, 68. 

Marcian, 82, 119. 

Marcus Aurelius, 33, 66. 

Marriage, 342. 

Martin of Tours, 99, 381. 

Martyrs, 77fF.; at Lyons, 67; 
at Carthage, 69 ; their wor- 
ship, 289. 

Massala, 317. 

Maurice, 83. 

Maximinus, 70. 

Mediterranean, 29. 

Melania, 376. 

Menon of Ephesus, 159. 

Messalina, 304. 

Metropolitans, 201. 

Miter, 290. 

Military emperors, 33. 

Miniature painting, 394. 

Ministry, 233. 

Missions, 95. 



Index. 



4i3 



Moller, Prof., 147. 
Mommsen, Prof., 345. 
Monarchianism, 142 ; dynamis- 

tic, 144. 
Monasticism, 36ofF., 370, 383ff. 
Monica, 403. 
Monophysite sect, 6r. 
Montanus, 124. 
Montanism, 124, 280. 
Morals of Roman Empire, 310, 

337- 
Mosaics, 394. 

Motives of martyrdom, 75. 
Monks, 99. 
Mourners, 283. 
Municipalities, 36. 

Narcissus, 305. 

Narses, 85. 

Nazarenes, 59. 

Neander, 323. 

Neo-Platonism, 326. 

Nero, 32, 64, 307. 

Nerva, 65. 

Nesbit, 396. 

Nestorian sect, 61. 

Nestorius, 158. 

New Testament Canon, 123. 

Nicsea, 153. 

Novatian, 212. 

Oak, Council of, 294. 

Oblation, 271. 

Octavia, 308. 

Odoacer, 85. 

Oecumenical Councils, 151. 

Olympias, 403. 

Order of worship, 252, 257. 

Origen, 130-141. 

Origin of Church, 50. 

Orosius, 170. 

Ostiaries, 227. 

Otho, 33. 

Pachomius, 370. 
Paetus, 308, 312. 
Painting, 394. 
Pallium, 223. 
Palm Sunday, 277. 



Papias, 116. 

Parabolani, 228. 

Parmenides, 320. 

Passover, 277. 

Patriarchs, 203. 

Patrick, St., 96. 

Paul, 39, 40, 55, 406 ; of Samo- 
sata, 203, 208. 

Paula, 378. 

Paulinus of Nola, 158, 380. 

Pelagian controversy, i69ff. 

Pelagius, 169. 

Penitence, 28off., 287. 

Pentecost, 55, 277. 

Periods, development of wor- 
ship, 241 ; development of 
theology, 116. 

Perpetua, 69. 

Persecutions, 64; Decian, 73; 
Diocletian, 73 ; Summary, 
74; effect, 75; issue, 76. 

Person of Christ, doctrine, 157. 

Pertinax, 68. 

Peter, 57, 59. 

Philip the Arabian, 71. 

Philo, 196. 

Philosophy, 318m, 321, 324. 

Phocas, 83. 

Pillage of Rome, 103. 

Plato, 46, 320. 

Plotinus, 46. 

Pliny, 312; letter to Trajan, 
247. 

Plumptre, Dr., 245. 

Poetry, 318. 

Pollio, 317. 

Polybius, 305. 

Polycarp, 66, 116. 

Pontiffs, College of, 35. 

Poor, 354. 

Pope, See of, 205. 

Poppcea Sabina, 308. 

Praefects, 40. 

Praetors, 35. 

Preaching, no, 276. 

Presbyters, 185, 191. 

Primacy, of Rome, 205. 

Probus, 73. 

Proconsuls, 39 



4H 



Index. 



Procurators, 39. 

Prophecy, New Testament, 243} 

of Rome's destruction, 88. 
Prophets, 182. 
Propraetors, 39. 
Provincial Assemblies, 44. 
Public life, Christian, 347. 
Pulcheria, 161. 
Purification of Virgin, 290. 
Pusey, Dr. K. B., 286. 
Pyrrho, 323. 
Pythagoras, 319. 

Qu^STORS, 35- 
Quinet, 109. 

Ramsay, 189. 

Recared, 94. 

Reform, social, 341. 

Relics, 290. 

Religion, 109; Roman, 46, 326. 

Remigius of Rheims, 101. 

Resurrection, 51. 

Revolutionary Kmperors, 33. 

Ritual, 264, 288. 

Roads, Roman, 45. 

Robber Synod, 160. 

Rome 27, 206; its lands, 29; 
compared with Great Brit- 
tain, 30. 

Roman philosophy, 324. 

Rufinus, 293. 

Ruin of old world, 84. 

Rulers of the Empire, 32. 

Sackrdotai,, ideal, 226. 
Sacrament, 273. 
Sacrifice, 291. 
Saints, 289. 
Santa Laura, 371. 
Saracen conquests, 224. 
Sardica, Cotiucil of, 210. 
Savonarola, 298. 
Saxon invaders, 84. 
Schleiermacher, 323. 
Scholastica, 403. 
Schultze, 290. 
Sculpture, 394. 
Secularization, 363. 



Semi-Pelagianism, 170. 

Senate, Roman, 36. 

Seneca, 308, 324. 

Septi^nius Severus, 33, 68. 

Severa, 71. 

Severinus, 97. 

Sextus II of Rome, 73. 

Sidonius, 84, 199. 

Silvanus, 182. 

Simon Magus, 118. 

Skepticism, 324. 

Slavery 44, 3146^., 344. 

Society, Roman, 43; Christian, 

54- 
Socrates, 320. 
Sozomen, 284. 
St. Sophia, 83, 396. 
Stephen of Corinth, 182. 
Stoicism, 323. 
Sub-deacons, 227. 
Subordinationism, 144. 
Succath, 96. 
Sulpicius Severus, 158. 
Sunday, 278. 

Symeon, 59, 66; Stylites, 364. 
Synesius of Cyrene, 158, 230. 
Synods, 201 ; Jerusalem, 171 ; 

Diospolis, 171 ; Carthage, 171 ; 

Milan, 392; Aries, 210, 392; 

Orange, 171; Turin, 230; 

Valence, 171. 
Syriac Christianity, 61. 

Tacitus, 64; Kmperor, 73. 
Taxes, Roman, 4if. 
Teachers, 182. 
Teaching of the early Church, 

109; of the Twelve, 115, 248. 
Telemachus, 336. 
Tertullian, 69, 72, 127, 253, 256, 

281. 
Thales, 319. 
Theaters, 329. 
Theodore of Mopsuesta, 158, 

165. 

Theodoret, 158, 161, 351. 
Theodoric, 85. 

Theodosius I, 78, 82; Theo- 
dosius II, 82! 



Index, 



4i5 



Theology, no. 
Theophilus, 186, 211, 294. 
Tiberius I, 32, 64 ; Tiberius II, 

83. 
Timothy, 182. 
Titus, 33, 65, 182, 308. 
Tongues, gift of 243. 
Totila, 85, 87. 
Toxatius, 379. 

Trades and professions, 346. 
Trajan, 33, 65. 
Tribunes, 35. 
Tribute, 41. 
Trinity, 153. 
Turning point, 70 A. D., 113. 

Ui,fii,as, 93> 9 6 - 
Ulhorn, 351, 358. 
Uranius, 380. 

Vai,ens, 91. 

Valentinian I, 336; Valentin- 
ian II, 197; Valentinian III 

215. 
Valentinus, 119. 
Valerian, 73. 
Valerius Atticus, 305. 
Vandals, 92. 



Vespasian, 33, 65, 30S. 
Victor, Pope, 211. 
Victoria, Queen, 40. 
Vigilantius, 230, 381. 
Vigilius, 211. 
Vincent of L,erius, 158. 
Virgil, 318. 
Virgin Mary, 290. 
Visigoths, 85. 
Vitellius, 33. 
Vitiges, 85, 87. 

Week, 278. 

Western Church, 62. 

Women of Rome, 310; Chris- 
tian, 341. 

Worship, 239-246, 253, 259, 262, 
266, 349. 

Xenophanes, 320. 

Year, Church, 277. 

Zeno, 46, 82 ; Citium, 323. 
Zephyrinus, Pope, 211. 
Zosimus, 171, 211; heathen 
historian, 330. 






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